Parties unite at New Dehli rally to accuse PM of ‘tax terrorism’ and rigging the vote, after arrest of prominent leader

Indian opposition parties united on Sunday to protest against the arrest of a prominent leader weeks before a national election, accusing the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his party of rigging the vote and harassing them with large tax demands.

“Narendra Modi is trying match-fixing in this election,” the leader of the opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, told a rally in New Delhi, as the crowd chanted “shame”.

Ruling allows leader of Congress party to return to parliament and contest national elections

India’s supreme court has suspended Rahul Gandhi’s two-year prison sentence for defamation, paving the way for him to return as an MP and to run in next year’s general election.

Gandhi, the leading face of India’s opposition Congress party, was given a two-year jail sentence for defamation in March, in a case he alleged was politically motivated.

Lawyers pledge to challenge ruling in higher court, saying they believe judiciary will ‘uphold justice’

The Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been dealt a blow after a court rejected his plea for a stay on his recent defamation conviction, meaning he could face jail and will lose his parliamentary seat as he appeals against the guilty verdict.

On Thursday, a judge in Surat district court, in India’s western state of Gujarat, rejected his petition seeking a stay of conviction. The rejection of the plea means Gandhi, former leader of the Congress party and the most recognisable face of India’s political opposition, is disqualified from office and there will now be a byelection in his Kerala constituency.

Indian opposition leader accused of implying prime minister was a criminal in remark made in 2019

A court in India has found the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation for a remark implying the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was a criminal.

On Thursday, Gandhi, 52, was sentenced to two years in prison but was granted bail after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal.

PM Narenda Modi weakened after Rahul Gandhi’s Congress ends 2018 with string of regional victories

The world’s largest exercise in democracy looms in 2019. In the beachside towns of Kerala state, the mountain villages of the Himalayas and across the dusty cities of the Gangetic plain, an estimated 850 million people will cast their votes in India’s national election sometime between March and May. And the race just got competitive.

A few months ago the prime minister, Narendra Modi, looked invincible. His party had followed its thumping national election win in 2014 with a run of victories in India’s largest states. The Congress party, which ushered India into independence 70 years ago and had been its default ruler since, was reduced to a rump, with leaders from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) boasting the country would soon be “Congress-mukt” (Congress-free).