Rahul Gandhi, 52, was found guilty of defamation in a 2019 lawsuit for his remark about the “Modi surname” and was sentenced to two years in prison on March 23 by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, appeared before the Surat Sessions Court today to challenge his conviction in the 2019 defamation case over his remark about the “Modi surname.” In order to submit an appeal, he attended the court accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi, the chief ministers of three states that are governed by the Congress, and other party leaders.

The Congress leader requested that the session court suspend his sentence effective immediately. In addition to other senior party officials, Ashok Gahlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, was in the city along with Congress Rajya Sabha member KC Venugopal. According to a PTI report, the Congress national secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh (Bhupesh Baghel) and Himachal Pradesh (Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu), are also likely to be in the city as Gandhi heads to court. In a defamation case from 2019 for his remark about the “Modi surname,” 52-year-old Gandhi was convicted guilty and given a two-year prison sentence on March 23 by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma.

According to sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Criminal Code, the court has found the Congress politician guilty. He was granted bail by the court the same day, and the punishment was suspended for 30 days so he could file an appeal with a higher court. Following his conviction, Gandhi was instructed to leave his official house and was later barred from serving in the Lok Sabha by the Lok Sabha Secretariat on March 24.

Purnesh Modi, a BJP Member and former minister from Gujarat, complained about Gandhi’s claimed remark that “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” and the lawsuit was brought against Gandhi as a result. During the Lok Sabha elections campaign on April 13, 2019, Gandhi, who had previously served as an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, made the comments while speaking to a crowd in Kolar, Karnataka. The Representation of the People Act of 1951’s provisions allowed him to be disqualified from being a member of Parliament after receiving a two-year term.