New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS) A Delhi court will hear a criminal revision petition filed against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday over allegations that her name was fraudulently included in the electoral rolls before she acquired Indian citizenship.
The revision petition, filed by advocate Vikas Tripathi, assails the September 11, 2025, order of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia, who had dismissed the complaint seeking a police investigation into the alleged wrongful inclusion of Sonia Gandhi’s name in the voter list.
According to the petitioner, Sonia Gandhi’s name first appeared in the electoral roll of the New Delhi constituency in 1980, nearly three years before she formally acquired Indian citizenship in April 1983. The plea claims that such inclusion could not have occurred without forged or fabricated documents and amounts to a cognisable offence.
It has been contended that her name was subsequently deleted from the electoral rolls in 1982 and re-included in 1983 after she became an Indian citizen, raising questions about the legality of the earlier entry.
In an order passed on December 9, 2025, Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts had agreed to examine the revision plea and issued notice to Sonia Gandhi as well as the Delhi Police, directing the matter to be listed for further hearing.
Earlier, the Magistrate Court had dismissed the complaint seeking registration of an FIR, holding that the judiciary cannot embark upon an inquiry that would result in unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to Constitutional authorities.
It held that such intervention would be barred under Article 329 of the Constitution, which limits judicial interference in electoral matters except through election petitions.
Opposing the revision petition, Sonia Gandhi has informed the court that the allegations are “politically motivated”, baseless, and founded on incorrect and misleading facts. In her reply, she maintained that questions relating to citizenship fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Central government, while disputes concerning electoral rolls lie within the authority of the Election Commission of India.
She has further argued that no credible documentary evidence has been produced to substantiate allegations of forgery or fraud and described the proceedings as an abuse of the legal process.
The issue has been politically contentious, with BJP leaders accusing the Congress of manipulating voter lists in the past and referring to the Sonia Gandhi case as an example of alleged irregularities.
Congress, on the other hand, has dismissed such claims as baseless and retaliatory.
Reacting to the court proceedings, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned whether any evidence existed to support the allegations.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, she said, “Do they have proof? This is completely false. She voted only after becoming a citizen. I don’t understand why they are targeting her—she is about to turn 80 and has devoted her entire life to serving the nation. At this age, they should let her be.”
--IANS
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