Court to Hear Plea Challenging FIR Denial Against Sonia Gandhi on Voter List Allegation

New Delhi, Dec 2025 : A criminal revision petition has been filed before a Delhi court challenging an order that declined to direct the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi over allegations that her name appeared in the electoral roll in 1980—three years before she formally acquired Indian citizenship.

The matter was taken up on Friday by Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) Vishal Gogne at the Rouse Avenue Courts. The court directed that the plea be listed for consideration on December 9.

The revision petition was filed by Vikas Tripathi, who challenged a September 11 order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Chaurasia. The ACMM had earlier dismissed Tripathi’s complaint seeking directions to the police to register an FIR in connection with the alleged wrongful inclusion of Sonia Gandhi’s name in the voter list.

According to the petitioner, Sonia Gandhi’s name was first included in the electoral roll of the New Delhi constituency in 1980, even though she became an Indian citizen only in April 1983. He further claimed that her name was deleted from the list in 1982 and subsequently re-included in 1983 after the grant of citizenship. Tripathi has alleged that the initial inclusion in 1980 could not have taken place without the use of forged documents, which, he argued, constitutes a cognisable criminal offence.

However, while dismissing the complaint, the magistrate had observed that directing a criminal investigation would amount to an “unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to the constitutional authorities.” The court also noted that such an inquiry would violate Article 329 of the Constitution, which generally bars judicial interference in electoral matters except through duly constituted election petitions.

Tripathi had earlier contended that the court should have ordered a police investigation into the alleged forgery, asserting that the inclusion of a non-citizen in the electoral roll amounted to electoral fraud at its very inception.

The matter has long remained politically sensitive. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have repeatedly accused the Congress of manipulating voter lists in the past, citing the Sonia Gandhi case as an illustration of alleged irregularities. On the other hand, the Congress party has consistently rejected these allegations, describing them as politically motivated, baseless, and intended to malign its leadership.

With the revision plea now listed for hearing on December 9, the court is expected to examine whether the earlier order refusing to direct an FIR warrants reconsideration under criminal law.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)