New Delhi: In a major relief for Sonia Gandhi, a Delhi court on Thursday rejected a plea alleging her name was included in the voter list in 1980, three years before she became an Indian citizen. Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia dismissed the plea.
Chaurasia reserved the verdict in the matter on Wednesday. The plea was filed by Vikas Tripathi. In the plea, it was alleged that Gandhi's name was added as a voter in January 1980 in the New Delhi constituency when she was not an Indian citizen.
On Wednesday, senior advocate Pavan Narang represented Tripathi in the court. First, you have to satisfy the threshold of citizenship, then you will become a resident of an area," he said, as quoted by PTI.
Narang said in 1980, the proof of residence was probably a ration card or a passport. "If she was a citizen, then why was her name deleted in 1982? Two names were deleted then by the election commission, one was of Sanjay Gandhi after he died in a plane crash, and the other was of Sonia Gandhi," he said.
Earlier this month, the senior advocate had said that the Congress MP's name was included in the electoral roll as a voter of the New Delhi constituency in 1980 and was deleted in 1982. He further alleged that Gandhi's name was again re-entered in 1983.
The plea was filed under Section 175 (4) (power of magistrate to order investigation) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). It sought an investigation by the police into the matter.
