Rahul Gandhi citizenship case: HC permits withdrawal of new petition

Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a fresh petition challenging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship after the petitioner, S Vignesh Shishir from Karnataka, sought to withdraw the case. The court granted liberty to the petitioner to instead file a review petition against its earlier judgment.

Shishir, in his new plea, claimed to possess fresh evidence related to the matter and urged the court to restrict Rahul Gandhi from undertaking any foreign travel until a decision was reached on the petition. However, the bench noted that a similar petition had already been disposed of on May 5, and that the petitioner could pursue a review petition against that decision if he wished to continue the matter.

In its order, the court stated that it was dismissing the fresh plea as withdrawn and reiterated that any representation made by the petitioner to the Central government regarding the issue could still be considered by a competent authority.

Earlier, on May 5, the court had disposed of Shishir’s original petition on the same issue, allowing him the option of pursuing other available legal remedies.

With PTI inputs