Wednesday, May 18 2005 13:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today (May 18, 2005) dismissed a petition filed by Janata Party president Subramaniam Swami challenging the citizenship granted to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Swami, whose two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against Sonia were dismissed by the court last month, had approached it again on the ground that his plea about her citizenship was not argued upon.

However, a division bench of Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice S K Kaul dismissed his plea saying a petition cannot be argued in a piecemeal manner.

Additional solicitor general P P Malhotra cited a Supreme Court judgement according to which if an issue is not argued during the hearing of a petition it is deemed to have been given up by the party.

Reacting to the court order, Swami told sources that the order is "thoroughly bad in law and that he will challenge it before the Supreme Court".