The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed the Union Home Ministry to decide within four weeks on the matter of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's citizenship.
This decision comes after a plea from a private individual, S Vignesh Shishir, a resident of Karnataka, who also requested an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The controversy over Rahul Gandhi's citizenship has been a subject of speculation for several years. As a member of the Lok Sabha since 2004 and currently the Leader of the Opposition, questions regarding his nationality have periodically surfaced.
The petitioner, Shishir, a BJP worker, claimed to have acquired new information regarding Mr Gandhi's citizenship.
According to him, confidential emails from the UK government indicate that Rahul Gandhi appears in their citizenship records. Shishir argued that under Indian law, dual citizenship is prohibited, and acquiring the citizenship of another country results in the automatic termination of Indian citizenship.
The Home Ministry was initially given three weeks to respond to this matter in a previous hearing last November. However, no action has been taken since.
The recent directive from the High Court came after the Ministry sought eight weeks to reach a conclusion, but the court limited the period to four weeks.
Deputy Solicitor General SB Pandey, representing the Home Ministry, had been asked to file the required directions regarding the plea, but this remains pending.
Meanwhile, a similar case is being heard by the Delhi High Court, where former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy filed a petition in 2019.
Swamy, who first raised the issue in 2015, claimed that a former British company, established in 2003 and dissolved six years later, listed Rahul Gandhi as a UK national in its records. During a recent hearing, the Delhi High Court sought a response from the central government regarding the matter.
The court had earlier expressed concern over the parallel proceedings in the Allahabad and Delhi courts, questioning the apparent inaction by the authorities.
Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party have consistently denied any claims suggesting that he holds citizenship of another country.
His sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has reiterated that her brother is an Indian citizen by birth and has always lived in India. Rahul Gandhi himself has dismissed these allegations, calling them attempts to tarnish his reputation.
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