BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya targeted opposition outrage over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, alleging that the ex-president of Congress Sonia Gandhi herself "violated" election law in the 1980s.
Sharing a detailed post on X, along with a photocopy of a 1980 electoral roll extract, Malviya highlighted that Sonia Gandhi’s name appeared on the voter list three years before she officially became an Indian citizen. Under Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, non-citizens are disqualified from registration in electoral rolls.
Malviya wrote, “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 Special Intensive Revision (SIR).”
He noted that the 1980 electoral rolls listed Sonia Gandhi as a voter despite her not being an Indian citizen at the time.
Her name first emerged on the rolls in 1980 — three years ahead of the time she became an Indian citizen and when she still possessed Italian citizenship. The Gandhi family then resided at 1, Safdarjung Road, the Prime Minister's official residence, which was then occupied by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The voters enrolled at the address so far were Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, and Maneka Gandhi," he added.
Malviya went on to clarify that the electoral rolls of the parliamentary constituency of New Delhi were updated in 1980 and Sonia's name was included.
"This insertion was a blatant flouting of the law that insists on an individual being an Indian citizen for him to be enrolled as a voter. After there was a furore in 1982, she was erased from the list — only to re-emerge in 1983," he stated.
He went on to say, "But even her reinstatement was problematic. In the new revision of the electoral rolls in 1983, Sonia Gandhi was entered at serial number 236 in polling station 140. The cut-off date for inclusion was January 1, 1983 — but she was only conferred Indian citizenship on April 30, 1983."
Malviya charged Sonia Gandhi with having her name on the rolls twice without fulfilling the citizenship requirement.
We are not even questioning why it took her 15 years after marrying Rajiv Gandhi to become an Indian citizen," he joked, calling it "blatant electoral malpractice."
The comments have come amid row over the Election Commission's SIR process in Bihar prior to the state assembly polls. Opposition parties like Congress have accused the revision of being employed to unfairly disqualify or disenfranchise legitimate voters, especially from poor communities.
The Election Commission and the government, though, assert that SIR is a normal administrative exercise to ascertain the integrity of the voter rolls.
Read also| India and China Set to Resume Direct Flights Next Month After 5-Year Hiatus
Read also| PM Modi likely to visit US next month to address UN General Assembly
