Setback for Sonia Gandhi: Court scraps order refusing probe in electoral roll case

Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday allowed a revision plea challenging a magistrate’s order refusing to probe the allegation that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s name was included in the electoral roll in 1980, three years before she acquired Indian citizenship.Special Judge Vishal Gogne delivered the judgment two days after deferring it. He quashed the order as “non-speaking” or an order that does not explain the reasons behind a judge’s conclusion.“The impugned order suffers from a manifest error in law on account of non-compliance with Section 175(3) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), inter alia, not hearing the submissions of the police officer concerned and non-calling of a status report from the police station concerned,” the Special Judge noted.“The ‘non-speaking’ nature of the order was evident as the magistrate did not consider the twin options under law of directing the registration of an FIR or alternatively conducting proceedings under the BNSS, and instead of considering the core aspect of whether the complaint disclosed the commission of a cognisable offence, the magistrate digressed towards the issue of citizenship,” he added.

The court remanded the matter back to the magistrate to pass a reasoned order after hearing fresh arguments.The matter has been posted for further proceedings on September 29.In September last year, advocate Vikas Tripathi filed a plea in a Delhi court seeking action against Sonia Gandhi claiming her name appeared on the electoral rolls three years before she became an Indian citizen in 1983. The plea had sought a police investigation into what it terms a possible case of forgery.The application had pointed to documents suggesting Sonia Gandhi took Indian citizenship on April 30, 1983. Yet, her name allegedly appeared as a voter in the New Delhi constituency roll in 1980, was deleted in 1982, and re-entered in April 1983 after she formally became an Indian national.The magistrate’s court dismissed Tripathi’s plea on September 11, 2025, prompting him to approach a higher court.(With PTI inputs)