Did a Delhi Court Issue a Notice Regarding an FIR Against Sonia Gandhi Over Voter List Inclusion?
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New Delhi, Dec 9 (NationPress) A Delhi Court has decided to review a criminal revision petition that contests a previous ruling which denied the registration of an FIR against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The allegations suggest that her name was listed on the electoral roll in 1980, which is three years prior to her official Indian citizenship.
Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne from the Rouse Avenue Courts issued notices to both Sonia Gandhi and the Delhi Police after senior advocate Pavan Narang argued that the documents required for her name's inclusion must have been “forged, fabricated and falsified.”
The judge ordered that this revision petition be scheduled for a further hearing on January 6, 2026.
This revision petition was submitted by Vikas Tripathi, challenging the September 11 decision made by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia, which had dismissed his complaint regarding the alleged wrongful inclusion of Sonia Gandhi's name in the voter list.
Tripathi claims that Sonia Gandhi's name was first added to the electoral roll of the New Delhi constituency in 1980, despite her obtaining Indian citizenship only in April 1983.
He pointed out that her name was removed in 1982 and then reinstated in 1983 after she became a citizen.
Tripathi asserts that the initial inclusion in 1980 could not have occurred without the use of forged documents, which constitutes a cognizable offense. However, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Chaurasia declined to instruct the police to file an FIR, stating that such judicial inquiry would lead to an “unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to the Constitutional authorities.”
The Magistrate noted that such an investigation would violate Article 329 of the Constitution, which typically prohibits courts from intervening in electoral rolls and related matters except via election petitions.
Tripathi previously requested the court to mandate a police investigation into the alleged forgery, adding that including a non-citizen in the voter list constitutes electoral fraud from the outset.
This issue has garnered political attention, with BJP leaders accusing the Congress of past manipulations regarding voter lists, citing the Sonia Gandhi case as an instance of alleged irregularities. Conversely, the Congress has dismissed these accusations as unfounded and retaliatory.