New Delhi: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to pull out from the Colorado ballot if the state's Supreme Court does not let Donald Trump contest. His remarks come hours after the court declared Trump ineligible for the US President's office due to his role in the US Capitol attack.
Ramaswamy also urged other Republican candidates to withdraw from the Colorado polls immediately if the court doesn't reinstate Trump on the ballot.
"I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately," he said on X (formerly Twitter).
Calling the ruling an 'illegal maneuver', the Indian-American leader said it would have disastrous consequences for the US.
The 4-3 ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court makes Trump the first presidential candidate in US history to be deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used provision of the US Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding office.
The ruling applies only to Colorado's March 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion could affect Trump's status in the state for the November 5 general election. Nonpartisan US election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic, meaning that President Joe Biden will likely carry the state regardless of Trump's fate there.