Sonia Gandhi was voter before acquiring Indian citizenship, BJP says

Dubai: The Bharatiya Janata Party, accused of ‘colluding’ with the Election Commission to commit voter fraud, hit back on Wednesday by claiming the former Congress boss Sonia Gandhi had been illegally, though briefly, added to the voter list 45 years ago, before she was an Indian citizen.

Former Union Minister and BJP MP Anurag Thakur claimed Gandhi - born Sonia Maino in Italy in 1946 - was added on the list from 1980 to1982, a year before she was an Indian citizen, according to Indian media reports.

The allegations echoed what the BJP’s Amit Malviya posted on X hours earlier.

Amit Malviya, Bharatiya Janata Party's IT Cell chief, earlier 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.

The BJP escalated its attack on Congress over the latter’s ‘vote chori’ allegation, counter-accusing it of committing fraud in seats it had won.

Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s charge of voter fraud, BJP MP and former Union Minister Anurag Thakur presented what he claimed was “proof” of discrepancies in Congress-held constituencies during a press conference, questioning why the party had chosen to overlook them.

Quoting a Hindi proverb, Thakur remarked, “The dust was on your face, yet you kept cleaning the mirror,” implying that Congress was avoiding self-reflection.

He further alleged that this “trend” dated back to 1952, when Congress allegedly joined hands with the CPI to defeat B.R. Ambedkar. “Indira Gandhi once said voters are a bunch of fools. When Rajiv Gandhi lost, he blamed the ballot paper. His son Rahul’s father pushed for voting machines, but now Rahul demands a return to ballot papers,” Thakur said.

The minister added that the opposition was making false allegations as it sensed defeat in the upcoming Bihar polls.