Was Sonia voter before she was citizen? Court to hear plea for FIR

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday fixed September 10 for hearing a criminal complaint seeking registration of an FIR against former Congress president Sonia Gandhi over allegations that her name appeared on electoral rolls before she became an Indian citizen.Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia scheduled the matter after going through a 230-page complaint filed under BNSS Section 175(4). The plea by lawyer Vikas Tripathi, vice-president of Central Delhi Bar Association, names Sonia and the SHO of IP Estate police station as respondents.”Her name ought to have been immediately struck off from the rolls in 1980, but records show she continued to enjoy voting rights as an Italian citizen until 1982,” the complaint said.The petition claims Sonia’s name was on New Delhi constituency list in 1980, even though she acquired Indian citizenship only on April 30, 1983. It argues this violated Section 16(1)(a) of Representation of the People Act, 1950, which disqualifies non-citizens from being registered as voters.The complainant’s counsel, Pavan Narang, said Sonia’s name was deleted from the electoral rolls in 1982 and re-entered in 1983 after she obtained citizenship by registration following her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi. “If proper procedure was followed, there was no reason for her name to be deleted in 1982,” Narang said, noting that Sanjay Gandhi’s name was removed at the same time after his death.Narang urged the court to ask police to register an FIR for alleged forgery and cheating of a public authority. On Aug 29, the court had heard initial arguments and said it needed more time to study the complaint.