India's lower house of parliament on Friday stripped opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of his seat after he was sentenced to prison for defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A memo to India's parliament said Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party, was "disqualified as a member of the House of Representatives as of the date of his conviction".
Gandhi is due to appeal to a district court in Modi's western state of Gujarat, writing on Twitter hours after being stripped of parliamentary disqualification: "I am fighting for the voice of India, and I am ready to pay any price."
Congress Party Youth Chairman Srinivas Bhadravati Venkata also commented on the decision in a tweet, writing: "This is a black day for Indian democracy."
The House of Representatives' decision came a day after Rahul Gandhi was convicted in a Gujarat court for defaming Modi over a statement he made in the context of the 2019 election campaign, in which he said that "all thieves have Modi's nickname name."
This statement was seen as an insult to the Prime Minister after his election victory.
Gandhi was sentenced to two years in prison and released on bail on Thursday after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal.
The lawsuit, brought by a member of Modi's ruling party, Pornish Modi, focused on a comment Gandhi made in a 2019 speech when he referred to two fugitive businessmen whose surname was Modi.
Rahul Gandhi, 52, is the leader of the Congress Party, whose influence in the country has waned from dominating Indian politics for his historic role in liberation from British colonialism.
Rahul Gandhi, who comes from the family of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which gave the country three heads of government, faces two other defamation cases and a money laundering case he denies.
The charges against him come at a time of increasing action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's opponents and bodies critical of him in recent years.