The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in India's Lok Sabha, over allegations of dual citizenship. The petition, filed by S Vignesh Shishir, a BJP worker from Karnataka, claims that Gandhi declared himself as a British national in annual returns of a now-dissolved UK-based company from 2003 to 2009. The court's directive sets aside a previous ruling that dismissed the case as outside jurisdiction. Under Article 9 of the Indian Constitution, dual citizenship is prohibited, meaning that if Gandhi is found to hold a foreign passport, he could be disqualified from Parliament. The court has instructed the Kotwali police station in Raebareli, Gandhi's constituency, to register the FIR and has allowed the Uttar Pradesh government to either conduct the investigation or refer it to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). This legal development comes at a politically charged time, coinciding with debates on the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, potentially shifting the focus of the Congress party from its critique of the government to a defensive strategy regarding Gandhi's citizenship status.