New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) A criminal revision plea has been filed before a Delhi court challenging an order that refused to direct registration of an FIR against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi over allegations that her name appeared in the electoral roll in 1980 -- three years before she became an Indian citizen.

The matter came up on Friday before Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act), Vishal Gogne, at the Rouse Avenue Courts.

The judge directed that the plea be listed on December 9 for consideration.

The revision petition, filed by Vikas Tripathi, challenged the September 11 order of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia, who had dismissed his complaint seeking an FIR into the alleged wrongful inclusion of Sonia Gandhi's name in the voter list.

Tripathi has said that Sonia Gandhi's name was first included in the electoral roll of the New Delhi constituency in 1980, despite her acquiring Indian citizenship only in April 1983.

According to him, the name was deleted in 1982, and then re-included in 1983 after she became a citizen.

He added that the inclusion in 1980 could not have happened without the use of forged documents, which constitutes a cognisable offence.

However, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Chaurasia had refused to issue directions to the police to register an FIR, holding that the judiciary cannot embark on an inquiry that would "result in unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to the Constitutional authorities".

The Magistrate said such a probe would amount to a violation of Article 329 of the Constitution, which ordinarily bars courts from interfering in electoral rolls and related matters except through election petitions.

Tripathi had earlier said that the court should direct the police to investigate the alleged forgery, adding that the wrongful inclusion of a non-citizen in the voter list amounted to electoral fraud at its very inception.

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.

--IANS

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