New Delhi, Aug 13: BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya on Wednesday alleged that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was registered as a voter in India even before she became an Indian citizen. His remarks came after the Congress criticised alleged irregularities in the voters’ list and opposed the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
“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,” Malviya claimed in a post on X.
According to Malviya, Sonia Gandhi’s name first appeared on the electoral rolls in 1980 — three years before she obtained Indian citizenship, when she still held Italian citizenship. At the time, the Gandhi family lived at 1, Safdarjung Road, the official residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Until then, the voters registered at that address were Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. He said the electoral rolls for the New Delhi parliamentary constituency were revised with January 1, 1980, as the qualifying date.
During this revision, Sonia Gandhi’s name was added at serial number 388 in polling station 145. “This entry was a clear violation of the law, which mandates Indian citizenship for voter registration,” Malviya alleged.
Following an outcry in 1982, her name was deleted, but it reappeared in 1983. Malviya pointed out that in the fresh revision that year, 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 only 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 then again in 1983, months before she legally became a citizen of India,” he said.
Malviya also questioned why it took her 15 years after marrying Rajiv Gandhi to accept Indian citizenship. “If this isn’t blatant electoral malpractice, what is?” he asked, while attaching an extract from the 1980 electoral rolls to his post.
IANS