New Delhi/IBNS: Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi was on Friday disqualified from Parliament's lower house Lok Sabha in view of his court conviction in a defamation case over the Modi surname remark.

Parliament House's secretary general Utpal Kumar Singh issued a statement which reads, "Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat... Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023..."

Rahul was on Thursday convicted by a court in Gujarat's Surat city in a criminal defamation case over his past remark referring to the surname Modi.

Later, the Congress leader got bail.

He was convicted under the IPC Section 504.

Rahul might end up facing a maximum punishment of imprisonment for two years.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign, Rahul had said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname."

A complaint, which was lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Purnesh Modi, had claimed Rahul had defamed the entire Modi community.