Fact Check: Gandhi was nominated for Nobel Prize five times and Nehru for seven times

An image is being circulated featuring the Father of the Nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and the First Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru With the Telugu text “మీకు తెలుసా 11 సార్లు గాంధీ , 13 సార్లు నెహ్రూ ,నోబెల్ శాంతి బహుమతి కోసం నామినేట్ అయ్యినప్పటికీ, నోబెల్ ఫౌండేషన్ తిరస్కరించింది

మనం వాళ్ళు గురించి ఇప్పడు తెలుసుకున్నాం నోబెల్ ఫౌండేషన్ వాళ్ళకి అప్పడే తెలుసు

When translated into English, it reads: “Gandhi was nominated 11 times and Nehru 13 times, but the Nobel Foundation rejected them." In the post, it was also mentioned, "The Nobel Foundation refused to award the Peace Prize to them; we know about them now but the Nobel Foundation was aware of them long ago.”

Social media users shared the image with a few smiley stickers.

Fact Check: We found the claim is misleading. Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times, while Nehru was nominated seven times. A total of 12 people nominated Gandhi during the period. A few nominated Gandhi in a single year.

During the search, we found on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 154th birthday, the Nobel Foundation shared a heartfelt post on their social media.

In the post, we found a link. When clicked, it led to an article published by the Nobel Foundation titled "Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate."

Gandhi was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize in the years 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 & 1948. After Gandhi's death in 1948, the Foundation had planned to present this gift to him, but it said that it did not happen due to some reasons. No one was awarded the Nobel Prize that year. Not only that, later members of the Nobel Committee also publicly expressed their regret for not awarding Gandhi.

When we searched the Archive of Nobel Prize Nomination Archive, we found between 1937-48, Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 5 times. A total of 12 people nominated Gandhi during this period. Many nominated Gandhi in a single year.

We also found an article published by India Today with a headline “Why was Mahatma Gandhi never awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?”.

In the published article, we found a detailed explanation on this matter.

Mahatma Gandhi, instrumental in India's independence from British rule, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times (1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, and 1948). Despite his pivotal role in promoting peace and non-violence, he never received the award.

The Nobel Committee had concerns about Gandhi's pacifism and his role in the 1947 India-Pakistan conflict, doubting his impartiality and consistent rejection of war. These concerns likely influenced their decision not to award him the prize.

Another major issue was the lack of precedent for posthumous awards. Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, just two days before the 1948 Nobel Peace Prize nomination deadline.

Despite the Nobel Foundation's statutes allowing for posthumous awards under certain circumstances, Mahatma Gandhi's lack of organizational affiliation and absence of a will made it unclear who would receive the prize money.

Norwegian economist Gunnar Jahn's diary reveals that the Nobel Committee considered a posthumous award for Mahatma Gandhi but ultimately decided not to for formal reasons. Instead, they reserved the prize. The following year, the committee did not award the 1948 prize at all.

Later, Nobel Committee members have publicly regretted omitting Mahatma Gandhi from the laureates. When awarding the Peace Prize to the Dalai Lama in 1989, the committee's chairman acknowledged it was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi."

During the search, we also found Jawaharlal Nehru was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times during 1950-61. Like Gandhi, Nehru was also nominated more than one time in a single year.

While searching on Wikipedia, we found the figure.

Live mint published an article with the headline “Why Mahatma Gandhi never won Nobel Peace despite being nominated 5 times?”

NDTV also published an article with a headline “Mahatma Gandhi Never Received Nobel Peace Prize. Panel Explains Why? ”

Hence, it is proved the claim is Misleading, Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize only five times, but, in total 12 people nominated Gandhi.