New Delhi : The BJP alleged that Congress MP Sonia Gandhi’s name appeared on the electoral rolls three years before she became an Indian citizen as it clapped back at the opposition’s claims of voter fraud in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Thakur echoed the claims of BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, who, in a post on X, shared a photocopy of the electoral roll of a polling station from the New Delhi constituency in 1980.
The electoral roll of polling station 145 in Safdarjung Road had the names of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. Malviya claimed that Sonia still held Italian citizenship at that time. Sonia Gandhi, born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino in Italy in 1946, married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968 and moved to India. A person who is not a citizen of India is not eligible for registration on the electoral rolls.
The electoral rolls of the New Delhi parliamentary constituency were revised with January 1, 1980, as the qualifying date. During this revision, Sonia Gandhi’s name was added, appearing at serial number 388 in polling station 145, he further said. Malviya claimed that following a public outcry, the former Congress chief’s name was deleted from the voter list in 1982 and was added again in January 1983.
“Even her reinstatement raised serious questions… The qualifying date for registration was January 1, 1983 – yet she was granted Indian citizenship only on April 30, 1983,” the BJP leader said. “We are not even asking why it took her 15 years after marrying Rajiv Gandhi to accept Indian citizenship. If this isn’t blatant electoral malpractice, what is?” he said.
