New Delhi, March 24 -- The Allahabad High Court on Monday (March 24) directed the Centre to decide on the citizenship status of Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi within four weeks. The Lucknow bench scheduled the next hearing for April 21, by which time the Centre must file a status report.

The court rejected the Centre's request for eight weeks to submit the report. The case stems from a petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and a private individual from Karnataka, S Vignesh Shishir, who have raised questions over Gandhi's nationality.

Shishir, a BJP worker from Karnataka, filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) claiming to have new evidence regarding Gandhi's alleged British citizenship. He asserted that he...