SONIA GANDHI’S NAME ADDED TO THE VOTER LIST ILLIEAGLLY: BJP

SONIA GANDHI’S NAME ADDED TO THE VOTER LIST ILLIEAGLLY: BJP

14-AUG-ENG 1

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

DELHI-------------------------The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has leveled serious allegations against former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, claiming that in 1980, when she was not even an Indian citizen, her name was illegally added to the voter list.

This allegation has come at a time when the opposition, especially the Congress, is accusing the Election Commission of rigging and irregularities in the voter list. The BJP has described it as part of the Congress's old tradition of 'electoral malpractice'.

Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday (August 13, 2025) claimed that Sonia Gandhi, who was born in Italy in 1946 as Sonia Maino, was included in the voter list of New Delhi parliamentary constituency in 1980, even though she was not an Indian citizen at that time. Thakur said the entry was in clear violation of the law that makes Indian citizenship mandatory for registration as a voter.

BJP national IT cell chief Amit Malviya claimed in a post on X that a photocopy of the 1980 voter list was proof that Sonia Gandhi was registered as a voter even though she was not an Indian citizen at the time. Malviya said the Gandhi family at the time lived at 1 Safdarjung Road, New Delhi, the official residence of then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi's name was added at serial number 388 of polling station 145 during revision of the voter list ahead of the 1980 Lok Sabha election.

He also claimed that her name was removed from the list in 1982 after massive protests but was added again in 1983 even though she became an Indian citizen only in April 1983. Malviya called it a "gross electoral malpractice" and questioned how Sonia Gandhi's name was included twice in the voter list before she acquired citizenship.