Amethi RO rejects objections, declares Rahul’s papers valid

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, April 22

Scrutinising allegations of discrepancies over his citizenship and other issues, Amethi Returning Officer (RO) on Monday set aside all objections and declared Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi’s nomination as valid.

Furnishing documentary evidence during a two-hour hearing, Gandhi’s counsel KC Kaushik pointed out that the Congress candidate was born in India and he holds an Indian passport and that he never at any point took the citizenship of any other country. His passport, voter ID and his income tax returns are from India.

Kaushik said he told the RO that he did not know who Raul Vinci was or where he came from. Rahul Gandhi had done his M.Phil in 1995 from University of Cambridge and a copy of his certificate has also been attached.

On Saturday, an Independent candidate and three others raised objections over the Congress president’s nomination from Amethi, alleging discrepancies over his citizenship and educational qualifications in his election affidavit.

Complainant Dhruv Lal’s lawyer Ravi Prakash had submitted before RO Manohar Misra supposed copies of a certificate of incorporation of a UK-registered company in which the Congress president is stated to be a British national.

He claimed that the UK company had existed for five years and would have made some profit, but that had not been disclosed in the affidavit. The opponent’s lawyer had sought a clarification on Gandhi’s alleged UK citizenship which he said would bar him from contesting the Lok Sabha election.