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Plea on Sonia Gandhi’s name in poll roll before citizenship dismissed
A Delhi court dismissed a complaint against Sonia Gandhi's voter enrollment in 1980, citing lack of evidence and jurisdiction, deeming it abuse of legal process
A Delhi court has junked a complaint questioning Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s alleged inclusion in the electoral roll in 1980, before she became an Indian citizen in 1983, holding that the accusations lacked substance and abused the process of law.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia passed a brief four-page order to the effect on Thursday, after extensively hearing the complainant, Vikas Pathak’s arguments over two hearings.
While dismissing the complaint, the court pointed to the lack of any cogent evidence against the Congress leader, which could prove she forged papers to enrol herself as a voter, while maintaining the issue itself went beyond the court’s jurisdiction.
The court noted, “…it becomes manifest that the present complaint has been fashioned with the object of clothing this court with jurisdiction through allegations which are legally untenable, deficient in substance, and beyond the scope of this forum’s authority. Such a stratagem constitutes nothing but an abuse of the process of law, which this court cannot countenance”.
Represented by Senior Advocate Pawan Narang, Pathak, through a complaint filed under Section 175(4) of Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which empowers a magistrate to direct an investigation, told the court that while Sonia Gandhi took Indian citizenship on April 30, 1983, her name was enrolled as a voter in the electoral list three years before, in 1980.
The complaint alleged that Gandhi’s name was deleted in 1982 and re-entered again on January 1, 1983.
Rejecting the plea, the order stated, “The fundamental ingredients necessary to constitute the alleged offences are conspicuously lacking. Mere bald assertions, unaccompanied by the essential particulars required to attract the statutory elements of cheating or forgery, cannot substitute a legally sustainable accusation…”
The court went on to question the documents filed by the complainant to support his accusations. “…informant is merely relying only upon extract of electoral roll which is photocopy of photocopy of alleged extract of uncertified electoral roll of the year 1980”.
The court said that such a course, in substance, amounted to misuse of the process of law by “projecting a civil or ordinary dispute in the garb of criminality, solely to create a jurisdiction where none exists”.
It added that the case falls into the domain of the Central government which exclusively holds the power to oversee issues related to citizenship. Similarly, the authority to determine the eligibility of a person to enrol in the electoral roll falls with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and not the court, the order read.
“Any attempt by this court to embark upon such an inquiry would result in an unwarranted transgression into fields expressly entrusted to the component constitutional authorities and would be violation of Article 329 of Constitution of India, 1950 (which bars interference by courts into electoral matters)”.
The court went on to reiterate that the complainant, by way of his private complaint, cannot invoke criminal provisions in a bid to encroach upon the territory exclusively controlled by the Central government and the ECI.
Reacting to the development, a senior Congress leader said, “The BJP and it’s ecosystem is trying to malogn the Gandhi family and rake up baseless issues. These are diversionary tactics but they have miserably failed.”
