On Friday, the Allahabad High Court in India permitted a petition filed by Vignesh Shishir, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Karnataka, to investigate allegations concerning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's citizenship status. The court, led by Justice Subhash Vidyarthi, overturned a January ruling from a Lucknow trial court that had deemed the petition non-maintainable, citing jurisdictional limitations regarding citizenship matters. The petitioner alleges that Gandhi holds dual citizenship and has engaged in passport manipulation, presenting documents that include a purported response from the UK government under the Data Protection Act, 2018. This response reportedly indicates that the UK Home Office's refusal to provide information on Gandhi's citizenship is an implicit acknowledgment of his British citizenship. Notably, a similar petition was dismissed by a different bench of the Allahabad High Court in July 2025, which allowed the petitioner to approach the appropriate authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955. Additionally, a Supreme Court ruling in 2019 had dismissed a plea aimed at barring Gandhi from contesting elections until the citizenship allegations were addressed.