NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday launched a counterattack on the Congress, questioning its alleged attempt at ‘vote-chori’ by reportedly seeking inclusion of Sonia Gandhi’s name in the electoral roll years before she was granted Indian citizenship. In response to the Congress’s criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) system and its allegations of electoral malpractice, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya took to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), saying, “Sonia Gandhi’s tryst with India’s voters’ list is riddled with glaring violations of electoral law.” He wrote, “This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi’s fondness for regularising ineligible and illegal voters, and his opposition to the SIR. Her name first appeared on the rolls in 1980 — three years before she became an Indian citizen and while she still held Italian citizenship. At the time, the Gandhi family lived at 1, Safdarjung Road, the official residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Until then, the voters registered at that address were Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, and Maneka Gandhi.” Tagging a copy of the requisition slip for adding Sonia Gandhi’s name, Malviya claimed, “In 1980, the electoral rolls of the New Delhi parliamentary constituency were revised with January 1, 1980, as the qualifying date. During this revision, Sonia Gandhi’s name was added, appearing at serial number 388 in polling station 145”. He alleged in the post, “This entry was a clear violation of the law, which requires a person to be an Indian citizen to be registered as a voter. Following an outcry in 1982, her name was deleted from the list — only to reappear in 1983. But even her reinstatement raised serious questions. In the fresh revision of the electoral rolls that year, Sonia Gandhi was listed at serial number 236 in polling. Thakur’s vote theft chargeEx-Union Minister Anurag Thakur alleged voter registration irregularities in Rae Bareli, Wayanad, Diamond Harbour, and Kannauj. He accused Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Akhilesh Yadav of winning through “vote theft.”
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