The Allahabad High Court has given the Central Government four weeks to decide on the citizenship of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

A petition was filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, and the case was heard by Justices AR Masoodi and Ajay Kumar Srivastava at the Lucknow bench of the High Court. The court has set April 21 as the next hearing date, by which the Centre must submit a status report on the citizenship of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The Central government requested eight weeks to submit a status report. In 2019, Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint with the Union Home Ministry, claiming that Rahul Gandhi had identified himself as a British citizen in documents submitted to British authorities. Swamy argued that this violated the Indian Constitution and the Citizenship Act, suggesting that Gandhi might have held a British passport. 

Swamy informed the court that the government had sent Rahul Gandhi a show-cause notice, asking him to explain his British citizenship status. However, Gandhi did not respond, and the government did not take any further action. The court then asked the Centre’s lawyer to update it on the status of Swamy's petition and the representation submitted to the ministry. "The prayer is not to decide on the substantive issues of the pending matter, whether here or in Allahabad. He is only seeking directions on his representations. Seek instructions regarding the stage of the proceedings concerning the letter," the court said, according to Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma. Months after the government informed the Allahabad High Court that it was examining a petition accusing Congress Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi of holding dual citizenship, the Centre made a submission in court.

The petition was filed by advocate and BJP leader Vignesh Shishir, who also requested a CBI investigation into Gandhi's citizenship. The petitioner claimed there was evidence indicating that Gandhi might have been a British citizen. This claim was based on emails allegedly obtained from the UK government during a previous inquiry by VSS Sarma. As per the petitioner, Sarma had reached out to UK authorities in 2022 to seek information about Gandhi's citizenship. The UK government confirmed some details but refused to share all the information. They cited data protection laws and said they needed a signed letter of authority from Gandhi.