File picture of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
| Photo Credit: PTI
Congress leader within the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on April 4 wrote to Speaker Om Birla to have a debate on the disqualification of celebration leader Rahul Gandhi.
In his two web page letter, Mr Chowdhury additionally identified the completely different yardstick adopted by the Chair in delaying with a case of sitting member from Amreli (Gujarat) and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Naranbhai Kachhadiya who was awarded a three-year sentence in 2016.
“Shri Kachhadiya preferred an appeal to the High Court and the Hon’ble High Court on 18th April, 2016 declined to stay the conviction. However, the Hon’ble High Court allowed suspension of the sentence. As per the provisions of section 8 of the Representation of the people Act 1951, Shri Kachhadiya should have been disqualified from the membership of the House, however the then Hon’ble Speaker did not resort to any action (including disqualification) against the Hon’ble Member,” Mr. Chowdhury mentioned in his letter.
Also learn | Making sense of the disqualification of a Lok Sabha MP
He mentioned it’s “intriguing” to be aware that Mr Gandhi was “summarily disqualified” from Lok Sabha within the wake of Surat court docket verdict of two-year sentence to jail despite the fact that his sentence was suspended by the identical court docket for a interval of 1 month, which facilitated his enchantment in larger courts.
“Sir, I am begging your indulgence to spell out the fact that under Section 8 of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, two conditions are to be met before disqualifying an elected member. First the member has to be awarded conviction for an offence and second, he has to be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years,” the Congress leader mentioned.
He mentioned earlier than disqualifying the elected member these two situations are thought-about as conditions. “In my view the second condition cannot stand the test of the prescribed provision of Representation of People Act as the sentence of Shri Rahul Gandhi ji was suspended by the Trial Court itself,” he famous.
Arguing that “what is sauce for the goose must be the sauce for the gander,” Mr Chowdhury wrote,”With heavy heart and mortification I plead to you that there should be a debate in the Parliament as to ascertain the fact that whether our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi ji has been awarded disproportionate punishment which smacks of cognitive dissonance or equality of law is meted out to all the elected members whosoever”.
