Sonia Gandhi voter roll row: Delhi court dismisses plea seeking action

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking action against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over allegations that her name was entered in the electoral rolls three years before she became an Indian citizen.

Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia dismissed the plea.

On September 10, senior advocate Pavan Narang, appearing for complainant Vikas Tripathi, argued that in January 1980 Gandhi’s name was added as a voter in the New Delhi constituency when she was not an Indian citizen.

"First, you have to satisfy the threshold of citizenship, then you will become a resident of an area," he said.

Narang added that in 1980 the proof of residence was "probably a ration card or a passport."

He further argued, "If she was a citizen, then why was her name deleted in 1982? Two names were deleted then by the election commission, one was of Sanjay Gandhi after he died in a plane crash, and the other was of Sonia Gandhi."

According to him, the election commission "must have found something wrong" which prompted the deletion. He pointed out that Gandhi’s name was included in the New Delhi electoral roll in 1980, deleted in 1982, and re-entered in 1983 after she acquired Indian citizenship.

The plea was filed under Section 175(4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which empowers a magistrate to order an investigation. It sought directions to the police to investigate the allegation that Gandhi became an Indian citizen in 1983 but had her name in the 1980 electoral roll.

The complainant claimed there was "some forgery" and that a public authority was being "cheated."

"My limited request is to either direct the police to register an FIR under the appropriate sections. Whether they are made or not is the domain of the police," Narang said.