New Delhi: If the appellate court overturns the conviction and the two-year jail term awarded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his alleged "Modi surname" remarks, he will not be disqualified as a member of parliament, according to legal experts on Thursday.
Constitutional law expert and senior attorney Rakesh Dwivedi argued that a suspended sentence and stay of conviction are required to avoid disqualification as a lawmaker under the Representation of the People (RP) Act, citing the Supreme Court's 2013 and 2018 judgements in the Lily Thomas and Lok Prahari matters.
"The appellate court can suspend the conviction and the sentence and grant him bail. In that case there will be no disqualification," he added, "However the politicians must choose their words carefully to avoid getting entangled with law." But he cautioned that politicians should be careful with their language to avoid legal trouble." He said that the Supreme Court rulings and the relevant clauses of the RP Act must be considered in any discussion of the possibility of Gandhi's disqualification as an MP.—Inputs from Agencies
