September 11, 2025 — A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking criminal proceedings against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over allegations that her name was included in the electoral rolls of 1980, prior to her acquiring Indian citizenship in 1983.
The petition, filed by advocate Vikas Tripathi, claimed that Gandhi’s name appeared in the New Delhi constituency voter list in 1980, despite the fact that she officially became an Indian citizen only on April 30, 1983. According to the complaint, her name was removed from the rolls in 1982 and re-entered in 1983.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia of the Rouse Avenue Court held that the material presented was insufficient to establish that any cognisable offence had been committed. The court ruled that there was no legal basis to direct registration of a First Information Report (FIR) or to initiate further proceedings against the Congress leader.
The complainant had argued that inclusion in the electoral rolls requires proof of citizenship as a primary condition, followed by documentary verification of residence. It was further submitted that since identification documents such as PAN or Aadhaar did not exist at the time, questions remained over how Gandhi’s name was added to the rolls in 1980.
Rejecting the plea, the court observed that the allegations did not meet the threshold required to establish forgery or electoral malpractice. The dismissal effectively ends the case, which had raised questions around citizenship and voter registration procedures from the early 1980s.
The Congress party has not issued a formal statement on the order. The ruling marks a significant relief for Sonia Gandhi, bringing closure to a decades-old allegation concerning her early years in Indian politics.
