Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Indian opposition, has attended parliament once more following his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
The Congress party leader was stripped of his title as a legislator in March after receiving a two-year prison term.
On Monday, two days after the Supreme Court postponed his sentence, he was re-elected as a member of parliament.
Outside of parliament, Congress leaders chanted slogans and handed out candy to mark his return.
Other opposition party leaders also expressed their happiness about Mr. Gandhi’s return to the legislature.
Mr. Gandhi represents Wayanad in the southern state of Kerala as a member of the Congress party.
Political analysts claim that Mr. Gandhi’s reinstatement as a congressman is a win for INDIA, an alliance made up of 26 opposition parties, as it allows him to run in the upcoming presidential election. In the election, the coalition intends to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The allegations against Mr. Gandhi stem from remarks he made at an election rally in 2019 regarding Mr. Modi’s last name.
Opposition parties have protested his conviction and disqualification, claiming that the BJP in power had targeted him. The BJP has refuted this, claiming that the case had been handled according to the law.
“Why do all these thieves have Modi as their last name?” Mr. Gandhi had questioned during a rally in the state of Karnataka in 2019. Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, and Narendra Modi.
Lalit Modi is the former president of the Indian Premier League and is currently on the run from the country’s cricket board, while Nirav Modi is an Indian diamond mogul who is still at large.
Purnesh Modi, a politician for the BJP, accused Mr. Gandhi of defaming the entire Modi community in a defamation lawsuit he brought against him. Mr. Gandhi had contended that he made the remark to draw attention to corruption and that it wasn’t intended to disparage any particular community.
In March, a Gujarati court found him guilty and handed out a two-year prison term. A 2013 Supreme Court ruling that states a legislator guilty of a felony and sentenced to two or more years in prison stands disqualified from parliament with immediate effect caused him to lose his MP designation the day after his conviction.
The Gujarat High Court denied Mr. Gandhi’s appeal in July after the court granted him bail to appeal his conviction.
The trial court judge’s justifications for handing down the maximum sentence of two years to Mr. Gandhi, however, were deemed “without sufficient reasons and grounds” by the Supreme Court, who therefore on Friday postponed his conviction.
Additionally, it stated that the Congress leader ought to have exercised greater caution when making the remarks.