‘Sonia Gandhi’s tryst with India’s voters’ list is riddled’: BJP alleges Congress leader was on voters’ list before gaining Indian citizenship

BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya on Wednesday alleged that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was enrolled as a voter in India years before acquiring Indian citizenship.

His remarks came after the Congress criticised alleged irregularities in voter rolls and opposed the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Malviya claimed, “Sonia Gandhi’s tryst with India’s voters’ list is riddled with glaring violations of electoral law. This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi’s fondness for regularising ineligible and illegal voters, and his opposition to the SIR.”

According to him, Sonia Gandhi’s name first appeared on the electoral rolls in 1980, three years before she became an Indian citizen, when she still held Italian citizenship. At the time, the Gandhi family resided at 1, Safdarjung Road, the official residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Until then, voters registered at that address were Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi.

Malviya said the electoral rolls for the New Delhi parliamentary constituency were revised with January 1, 1980, as the qualifying date, and during this process, Sonia Gandhi’s name was added at serial number 388 in polling station 145. He termed this a violation of the law requiring Indian citizenship for voter registration.

Following objections in 1982, her name was removed, but it reappeared in the 1983 revision. Malviya alleged that in this update, Sonia Gandhi was listed at serial number 236 in polling station 140, with January 1, 1983, as the qualifying date, even though she was granted Indian citizenship on April 30, 1983.

“In other words, Sonia Gandhi’s name entered the electoral rolls twice without meeting the basic citizenship requirement- first in 1980 as an Italian citizen, and again in 1983, months before she legally became a citizen of India,” Malviya said.

He also questioned why she accepted Indian citizenship 15 years after marrying Rajiv Gandhi, calling the alleged enrolment “blatant electoral malpractice.”