New Delhi, 4 Sep

A plea on Tuesday sought action against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, alleging her name was included in the electoral rolls three years before she became an Indian citizen.

The application, before additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia under Section 175 (4) (power of magistrate to order investigation) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), has sought directions to the police for investigation into the allegation that Gandhi became an Indian citizen in 1983, but her name was in the 1980 electoral roll.

"Put up for consideration on September 10," the court said.

Senior advocate Pavan Narang, appearing for the complainant, Vikas Tripathi, argued that according to some documents, it was clear that Gandhi took citizenship on 30 April, 1983.

He said her name was included in the electoral roll as a voter of the New Delhi constituency in 1980, which was deleted in 1982, and again re-entered in 1983 after she acquired Indian citizenship.

"The reason for the deletion is nowhere to be found. There can be two reasons, either someone takes the citizenship of another country or files a Form 8 (application for correction in particulars in an electoral roll), but the prerequisite is that the person has to be a citizen," Narang said.

"What documents were given to the election commission (EC) when her name got included in 1980?" he asked.

He claimed there was "some forgery" and that a public authority had been "cheated."

"My limited request is to either direct the police to register an FIR under the appropriate sections. Whether they are made out or not is the domain of the police," Narang said.

He said that in the interim period, a notice could be issued to the police for filing a status report.

The application under the BNSS was earlier heard on 29 August.

The magistrate then observed that a prayer seeking a status report from the Station House Officer (SHO) concerned was sought.

"However, the court in its discretion needs some time to go through the file, which runs to almost 230 pages. Short date (of September 4) is being granted."

The respondents in the case are Gandhi and the IP Estate police station SHO.