HC trashes plea against Sonia's election to Lok Sabha from UP

Lucknow, July 12: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the election of Congress President Sonia Gandhi to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli.

The petition filed by Rae Bareli resident Ramesh Singh contended that Sonia Gandhi was a citizen of both Italy, her place of birth, and India where she took up residence after her marriage into the Gandhi family.

Justice Tarun Agarwal, after hearing the case, said the petitioner did not have sufficient grounds for the sustainability of his petition and hence it was being dismissed.

The petitioner had also pleaded that the Lok Sabha election of Sonia Gandhi be set aside as she had asked the Imam of Jama Masjid in New Delhi to vote on religious grounds.

Sonia Gandhi's counsel said she had long ago given up her Italian citizenship and alleged that the petition was a "low-level conspiracy".

IANS