Lucknow, Dec. 5 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking the disqualification of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.

The petition, filed by a local advocate Ashok Pandey, sought Rahul Gandhi's removal from Lok Sabha on the ground that he was disqualified from being a Member of Parliament (MP) due to his conviction by a Gujarat court in a defamation case. However, the high court noted that the conviction was stayed by the Supreme Court in August 2023.

Passing the order, a division bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Manjive Shukla said that once a conviction is stayed, the disqualification under Section 8(3) does not operate.

"We are of the view that no substant...