100 days on, Rahul Gandhi awaits Gujarat High Court verdict

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, July 2

Time is ticking for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is awaiting a verdict of the Gujarat High Court on his petition for a stay on the conviction handed out to him by the CJM’s court in Surat. He was sentenced to two years in jail in the case.

“We cannot put pressure on the court to expedite the verdict,” said Pankaj Champaneri, counsel representing Rahul, over phone from Ahmedabad.

Sunday (July 2) marked the completion of 100th day since Rahul was disqualified from the Lok Sabha following the Surat court’s order convicting him for his remarks on ‘Modi surname’. The disqualification order was issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat on March 24. The disqualification, however, came into effect from March 23, the day the Surat court had pronounced him guilty.

His petition seeking a stay on his conviction had last come up before the Gujarat High Court on May 3. Justice Hemant Prachchhak said the verdict would be pronounced by him after the summer vacation.

“The court re-opened on June 5 after the vacation. The judge had also sought the record, running into hundreds of pages, from the trial court,” Champaneri said, indicating that studying the records could be a time-consuming affair. — TNS