Rahul Gandhi set to return to parliament as top court suspends conviction

FILE PHOTO: India's main opposition Congress party’s leader Rahul Gandhi walks on the day of a news conference, after he was disqualified by India's parliament on Friday as a lawmaker, at party’s headquarter in New Delhi, India, March 25, 2023. REUTERS/ Anushree Fadnavis/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's top court suspended opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi's defamation conviction on Friday, allowing him to return to parliament and contest national elections due next year.

Gandhi was convicted in March in a case brought by a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the western state of Gujarat over comments he made in 2019 deemed insulting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others with the same name, including the lawmaker.