According to sources Congress party have said that they would submit their party chief’s passport and degree details with the Election Commission to put the row to rest.
Sources said after NDA candidate from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, Thushar Vellappally, raised the issue of Rahul Gandhi’s alleged dual citizenship, the party has decided to submit the details of his degree and passport to the Returning Officer.
The party sources said such issues have been raised in the past too by Rahul Gandhi’s rivals.
Rahul’s lawyer KC Kaushik said they will submit the details before the Returning Officer and not say anything before the media for now.
“We will present our case before the Returning Officer. Law doesn’t allow us to disclose anything before. These objections are frivolous. During elections, opposition leaders always level such allegations against Rahul ji,” Kaushik said.
“Rahul Gandhi was born in India and he holds an Indian passport, he never took citizenship of any other country. His passport, Voter ID, and his income tax, everything is of India,” he added.
Earlier, Vellappally had on Sunday moved the Election Commission and filed a complaint with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora. The NDA candidate sought a review of Congress president’s nomination from Wayanad. Rahul is also contesting the Lok Sabha Elections from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
In his letter, Vellappally said Rahul is “not eligible to contest” the polls because he holds dual passports and “is not a citizen of India.”
“It is understood that Rahul Gandhi is having a passport of a foreign country also. He has not disclosed this fact in the nomination filed or in the affidavit,” Vellappally said in his complaint.
“It is said that Rahul Gandhi has professedly used the name Rahul Vincy in his educational certificates. There is no material to substantiate that Rahul Vincy and Rahul Gandhi is the same person,” he added.
The NDA candidate claimed that Amethi’s Returning Officer too had expressed doubts over Rahul’s qualification and citizenship.
“It is worthwhile to mention that the Returning Officer in Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) wherein Rahul Gandhi is contesting, has raised serious doubts about his qualifications and even citizenship, and hence has postponed the scrutiny of his nomination papers on multiple grounds,” he wrote.
“I request you to review the acceptance of the nomination of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad constituency to check for the validity and reject the application,” the letter read.
Rubbishing the allegations, Congress leader KC Venugopal said: “These are bogus claims and is not even an issue to be answered in my view. They know their future. Hence they are resorting to this kind of things.”
