Will Rahul Gandhi be disqualified as member of parliament after today's conviction? all you need to know

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi may face disqualification from parliament following his conviction and two-year prison term in a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Whilst Rahul Gandhi was given bail and his sentence was postponed for 30 days to allow him to appeal to the Surat Court's judgement, legal experts say the court's ruling puts him at risk of being disqualified as a member of parliament under the law.

Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, states that a member of parliament is disqualified if convicted of any offence and punished for at least two years.

According to experts, the Lok Sabha Secretariat can dismiss Rahul Gandhi and declare his Wayanad constituency empty based on the Surat court judgement.

Also Read: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi gets bail to appeal in ‘Modi surname’ case

If this scenario comes into the picture then the Election Commission will call a special election to fill the vacancy unless the conviction is overturned by a higher court.

If the judgement is not overturned by a higher court, Rahul Gandhi would be barred from running for office for the next eight years.

Meanwhile, Gandhi's team said the Congress leader intends to appeal the ruling to a higher court.

If their request for a suspension of sentence and a stay of execution is denied, they will appeal to the Supreme Court.

Experts further stated that a two-year sentence in a criminal defamation case under Section 499 of the Indian Criminal Code, which Gandhi was convicted under, is highly rare.

The Surat court found Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of allegedly making a joke in 2019 about "Modi's surname" and sentenced him to two years in jail.

Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and former Gujarati, filed a complaint in which he claimed that Rahul Gandhi had said,

"How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname", he added.

Earlier in an election rally, Rahul Gandhi made fun of a whole community in the lead-up to the elections in 2019 by saying, "Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi... how come they all have Modi as a common surname?" Why do all thieves share the surname Modi?

Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA  from Surat, had filed a complaint against the Congress leader for defaming the Modi community as a whole. Rahul Gandhi, the former president of Congress, was arrested under the criminal defamation provisions of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.