Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 4 (IANS): Veteran Congress leader A.K.Antony on Friday said that the stock of the Supreme Court has rises with its verdict staying the lower court’s order convicting party leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case.

"Just imagine if the apex court had not given this verdict, thousands of people’s representatives would have been in trouble for what they would have said during election campaigns. This is a clear victory of truth and justice has been restored," he said.

Congress MP and veteran leader K. Karunakaran's son K.Muraleedharan said they had absolute faith in the apex court.

"We are extremely delighted to have got Gandhi back in the parliament as we were short of an appropriate leader to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

And on when Gandhi will be able to return to Lok Sabha, former Lok Sabha Secretary General P.D.T. Acharaya said propriety demands that the Lok Sabha Secretariat should immediately issue a notification restoring the membership of Gandhi, as the verdict has come from the apex court.

Incidentally, Gandhi was disqualified by the Lok Sabha Secretariat the very next day after he was convicted by a Surat court.