Rahul Gandhi moves Supreme Court against Gujarat HC order; says, “if relief not granted, will lose 8 years of career”

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi e-filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Saturday challenging a Gujarat High Court order that refused to stay a Surat trial court’s sentencing order, reported TOI. The appeal said, “If the relief is not granted to the petitioner, then he will lose eight years of his career.” Under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, a person convicted and sentenced to two years for any offence would remain disqualified to contest elections for the jail term and six years after serving the sentence. Rahul Gandhi said the offence registered against him at the behest of one Purnesh Modi, whose lawyer P S Sudheer has filed a caveat in the SC to ensure that Rahul does not get any ex-parte stay on the HC decision, was neither serious in nature nor fell in the category of “moral turpitude” to warrant such severe sentence. Gandhi was disqualified as a Member of Parliament on March 24, 2023 after a Gujarat court convicted him and sentenced him to a two-year imprisonment on charges of criminal defamation for comments he made about the Modi surname.

Caveat filed in SC in matter pertaining to Rahul Gandhi's conviction in defamation case by Gujarat Court

Rahul questioning the locus standi of the complainant to file a defamation case against him, said when the allegedly offending or defamatory words were spoken during a political speech, it must be understood to have been directed at a political opponent and not against any class or community. “With regard to offending speech or sentence, there is no evidence in terms of the Evidence Act or the Information Technology Act that has been produced to justify the proceedings,” he said. Rahul said he represented a Lok Sabha constituency