नवीनतम
Court rejects petition against Sonia over voter list controversy
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Magistrate Court's order, dismissing a petition seeking registration of an FIR against senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for allegedly adding her name to the voter list in 1980, has been challenged in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Sessions Court. Special Judge Vishal Gogne will now hear the matter on December 9. The petition was filed by lawyer Vikas Tripathi, who happens to be the Bar Association Vice-President of the Rouse Avenue Court.
Previously, on September 11, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia had dismissed the same petition, which wanted to know how Sonia Gandhi's name could be added to the voter list under New Delhi Assembly constituency in 1980, when she had become an Indian citizen only in 1983, and sought court directions under Section 175-4 (power of magistrate to order investigation) for police to probe the matter.
The petition also stated that Sonia Gandhi was removed from the voter list in 1982 and added again in 1983, the year she applied for Indian citizenship, and was granted it on April 30 that year. It goes on to allege that since the senior leader only became an Indian citizen in 1983, some fraudulent documents must have been submitted in 1980 for her name to be added to the voter list at the time, which is a cognisable offense. Therefore, the court should order the registration of an FIR against her.
In September, senior advocate Pavan Narang, appearing for complainant Tripathi, had told the Magistrate's Court: "The reason for the deletion is nowhere to be found. There can be two reasons behind this: Either someone takes citizenship of another country, or files Form 8 (application for correction in particulars). But the prerequisite is that the person has to be a citizen."
"What documents were given to the Election Commission (EC) when her name got included in 1980?" he asked, adding that there was "some forgery", and that a public authority had been "cheated". "My limited request is that the court should direct the police to register an FIR under appropriate sections. Whether that is followed through or not is the domain of the police," Narang had added.
However, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had, in September, refused to issue directions to the police to register an FIR, holding that the judiciary cannot embark on an inquiry that would "result in unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to the Constitutional authorities".
Magistrate Chaurasia had said such a probe would amount to a violation of Article 329 of the Constitution, which ordinarily bars courts from interfering in electoral rolls and related matters except through election petitions.
The issue has been politically contentious, with BJP leaders accusing the Congress of manipulating voter lists in the past, and referring to the Sonia Gandhi case as an example of alleged irregularities. The Congress has dismissed such claims as baseless, and a retaliation against its opposition to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll across several states.
