New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has escalated its attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, accusing his mother, Sonia Gandhi, of having been listed as a voter twice before officially becoming an Indian citizen.
In a detailed post on X, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya alleged that Sonia Gandhi, originally an Italian national, was first included in the electoral rolls in 1980 — three years before acquiring Indian citizenship in April 1983.
Malviya claimed that during the revision of the New Delhi parliamentary constituency rolls on January 1, 1980, Sonia’s name appeared at serial number 388 in polling station 145, despite her still holding Italian citizenship. At that time, she resided with the Gandhi family at 1, Safdarjung Road, then the official residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Following a political uproar in 1982, her name was reportedly removed from the voter list — only to resurface in 1983. This time, Malviya alleged, Sonia was listed at serial number 236 in polling station 140 during the electoral roll revision, with January 1, 1983, as the qualifying date. However, she only obtained Indian citizenship on April 30 that year, months after her inclusion.
“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 again in 1983 before she was legally naturalised. If this isn’t blatant electoral malpractice, what is?” Malviya wrote.
The BJP leader further hinted that Rahul Gandhi’s opposition to SIR may be linked to “a history of regularising ineligible voters” within the Congress.
Sonia Gandhi, now 78, married former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1968 and became an Indian citizen 15 years later.
