Rahul Gandhi to challenge his conviction in Gujarat court tomorrow

Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi is likely to approach the High Court challenging his conviction by a Gujarat court in the 2019 criminal defamation case on Monday.

The perceived delay by the Congress in appealing in a higher court against Rahul's conviction by a Surat court has set off intense speculation about the party's plans in the matter that has become a major political issue and set off a keen confrontation between the government and the opposition.

The BJP has charged the Congress legal team of intentionally delaying the process to capitalise on the upcoming Karnataka election. However, the Congress maintains there is no deliberate delay and Rahul's legal team is exercising extreme caution and not leaving anything to chance as it prepares the appeal.

"There is absolutely no delay. The court has given 30 days' time to file an appeal," said a senior Congress leader.

The leader said the lawyers working on the appeal are being very careful since the plea to be filed in the sessions court will have ramifications in other similar cases that are going on in other parts of the country.

A trial court in Surat has convicted Gandhi in a criminal defamation case on March 23 and sentenced him to two years in jail for dubbing everyone with Modi surname a 'thug'. The two-year jail term triggered his disqualification as a Lok Sabha member from the date of the delivery of the verdict. Gandhi was granted bail to allow him to appeal to a higher court within a month.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India has said that they are not in a hurry to declare a by-election in Kerala's Wayanad parliamentary constituency which fell vacant after Gandhi's disqualification as member of the Lok Sabha.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the court has given Gandhi 30 days' time to seek a judicial remedy in the matter. ''There is no hurry. We will wait to do it before exhausting that particular remedy which the trial court had accorded. We will take a call after that,'' CEC Kumar said.

The vacancy for the Wayanad parliamentary seat was notified on March 23 this year and as per law, a by-poll has to be conducted within six months. ''According to Section 151 of Representation of People Act, whenever there is a vacancy, a by-poll has to be announced within 6 months from the date of notification of vacancy. In this case, it was March 23, so we have six months,'' he explained.