Bail Is Not Enough: Why Rahul Gandhi May Still Be Disqualified From Lok Sabha And Barred From Contesting In 2024

Rahul Gandhi, Congress party member, may face immediate disqualification as a lawmaker following his conviction in a defamation case and subsequent two-year jail sentence.

Despite being granted bail, legal professionals maintain that his disqualification is “immediate and automatic” under the law.

Gandhi received a guilty verdict in a Gujarat court for his comment about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has been granted bail and allowed a 30-day period for appeal.

Kapil Sibal, the former Congress leader and Union law minister, expressed that Gandhi's two-year jail sentence disqualified him automatically from parliamentary membership.

He stated that a mere suspension of his sentence would not suffice; his conviction also needed to be suspended or stayed. According to Sibal, if a stay order is not given, Gandhi cannot continue as a member of Parliament. These comments were made during an interview with NDTV.

Bail has been granted to him with a bond of Rs 10,000 while the court suspended the sentence temporarily for 30 days to enable him to appeal in a higher court. The conviction, however, remains unsuspended.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951, states that any lawmaker who is sentenced to imprisonment for more than two years will immediately be disqualified from their position.

Gandhi, aged 52, was convicted of criminal defamation by a court in Gujarat for his 2019 election speech where he referred to those with Modi as their surnames as thieves.

Gandhi may not be able to run in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if his conviction isn't suspended or overturned by a higher court before then.

The RP Act mandates that someone imprisoned for at least two years will be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and barred from running for office for an additional six years after their release.

Gandhi is an MP from Wayanad, Kerala.

In 2019, BJP MLA and ex-Gujarat minister, Purnesh Modi, accused Congress leader of criminal defamation over his statement made during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka. Gandhi's remark, "how come all the thieves have Modi as a common surname", allegedly defamed the entire Modi community, according to Purnesh Modi.

In the past eight years, several MPs and MLAs, including Lalu Yadav, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, and others, have been disqualified soon after their convictions and imprisonment for more than two years. This list also comprises Rajya Sabha MP Rasheed Masud, MLAs Azam Khan and Abdullah Azam Khan, and Mohammed Faizal, the MP from Lakshadweep.