complaint-filed-against-sonia-gandhi-over-alleged-voter-forgery

A criminal complaint alleging electoral fraud has been filed in a Delhi court against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, accusing her of securing voter enrolment before acquiring Indian citizenship.

 

The petition, moved by advocate Vikas Tripathi, was heard by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia at the Rouse Avenue Court. The magistrate recorded that arguments on behalf of the complainant had concluded and fixed September 10, for further hearing.

 

Senior advocates Anil Soni and Pawan Narang appeared for the petitioner. Narang insisted that the controversy must not be seen through a political lens but judged strictly on legal grounds. “The issue at hand is not political but legal,” he argued, adding that the alleged acts constitute a “cognisable offence” warranting a police investigation.

 

According to the complaint, Sonia Gandhi, then an Italian citizen, became an Indian national on April 30, 1983 under Section 5 of the Citizenship Act. Her name, however, was recorded in the New Delhi parliamentary constituency voters’ list as early as 1981–82.

Also read: BJP claims Sonia Gandhi was on voter list before citizenship

 

Narang told the court that Gandhi’s name, along with that of her late brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi, was later deleted from the rolls in 1982. “Such a deletion indicates that her earlier entry was irregular, since only Indian citizens are entitled to be enrolled as voters,” he submitted.

 

The petition alleges that falsified or forged documents may have been used to include her in the electoral rolls. “A public authority has been misled, and a fraud appears to have been committed,” Narang said, contending that the police had failed to act despite repeated complaints.

 

The plea has sought a direction for registration of an FIR and a probe into the matter. It relies partly on a 1985 Allahabad High Court ruling in Rakesh Singh vs Sonia Gandhi, which had held that Gandhi became an Indian citizen only on April 30, 1983. The complainant has urged the court to summon records from the Election Commission to establish how voter enrolment was obtained prior to that date.

 

The court will next take up the matter on September 10.