Kochi: In a blow to the Congress, the Gujarat High Court has refused to stay a lower court order convicting party leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case pertaining to his remarks on surname made during the 2019 Like Sabha polls.
A magistrate’s court in Surat had convicted Gandhi for two years on March 23 in a criminal defamation case filed by Purnesh Modi, MLA, of the BJP.
Gandhi moved a Sessions Court seeking bail and a stay on the order. The court granted him bail, but refused to stay the conviction following which he approached the High Court which posted the case for hearing after the summer vacation.
The verdict will prevent Rahul Gandhi from contesting elections or seek return to Parliament on the basis of his election from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019.
Gandhi was disqualified from Parliament under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act in the wake of the verdict.
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Blow to Rahul
