Delhi Court Revives FIR Plea Over Sonia Gandhi’s Voter Roll Case

A Delhi court has set aside a magistrate’s order declining to direct the registration of an FIR against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over allegations that her name was added to the 1980 electoral roll using forged documents, three years before she acquired Indian citizenship.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Dwarka Courts sent the complaint back to the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) for a fresh decision. The magistrate has been directed to hear the parties and the police officer concerned, conduct an inquiry and pass a reasoned order. The matter is listed for September 29.

Calling the earlier decision a “complete non-speaking order”, Judge Gogne said it did not explain why the allegations had been rejected. He observed that law should be the first concern of any judicial order and that an order must not “flirt with the facts”, Live Law reported.

The judge said allegations involving the fraudulent inclusion of a voter or a non-citizen in an electoral roll required a reasoned assessment of whether the complaint disclosed offences such as forgery or cheating. The magistrate’s order, he noted, had not examined the significance of the alleged sequence in which Gandhi’s name appeared on the rolls in 1980, was removed in 1982 and was entered again in 1983.

Judge Gogne found a “complete non-application of mind” on whether the complaint disclosed a cognisable offence. He also said the earlier order suffered from a “manifest error in law” because the magistrate had neither heard the police officer concerned nor sought a status report from the police station.

The court disagreed with the magistrate’s reasoning that questions concerning citizenship fell within the Central Government’s powers and electoral rolls within the Election Commission of India’s jurisdiction. Judge Gogne described that reasoning, as applied to the complaint, as “wholly improper and incorrect”.

He clarified, however, that the revisional court could not itself decide the request for an FIR under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. That decision must be made by the magistrate after considering the allegations and conducting the required inquiry.

The revision petition was filed by Vikas Tripathi, who challenged the magistrate’s September 11, 2025 order. Tripathi alleges that Gandhi’s name appeared on the New Delhi constituency’s electoral roll in 1980 although she became an Indian citizen in 1983. He claims forged documents were used to secure the entry and has sought an FIR. Senior advocate Ajay Burman appeared for him, Live Law reported.

In dismissing the complaint, the magistrate had held that it could not encroach on the Election Commission’s jurisdiction. It also found that Tripathi’s allegations lacked the particulars needed to support accusations of cheating or forgery, noting that he had relied on a photocopy of an allegedly uncertified extract of the 1980 electoral roll.