Responding to the opposition campaign of the Election Commission colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party, countered on Wednesday by claiming that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had been illegally, though briefly, included in the voter list 45 years ago, when she was not yet an Indian citizen.

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur said Mrs Gandhi, born Sonia Maino in Italy in 1946, was on the voter roll from 1980 to 1982, a year before she became an Indian citizen.

These claims matched what the BJP’s Amit Malviya had posted on X earlier.

Malviya shared what he described as a “photocopy of the extract from electoral rolls of 1980, showing Sonia Gandhi was a voter when she did not yet possess the citizenship of Bharat”. He asked, “If this is not outright electoral malpractice, what is?”

He alleged that Mrs Gandhi, who married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968, had been added to the voter list while the Gandhi family was living at the official residence of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He said Sonia Gandhi’s name was included in a revision of the voter list for the New Delhi parliamentary constituency before the 1980 Lok Sabha election.

“This entry was a blatant disregard of the law, that one must be an Indian citizen in order to be enrolled as a voter. After there was a public outcry in 1982, her name was removed from the rolls…” he said.

Malviya further alleged that her re-inclusion in 1983, after she acquired Indian citizenship, was also fraudulent, claiming the cut-off date was January 1 while Mrs Gandhi became a citizen in April.

Meanwhile, Thakur also criticised Rahul Gandhi over his allegations of voter fraud in Maharashtra and Karnataka last year. He said the Congress MP was “lying (and) providing false figures”.

Congress Responded

Responding to the allegations, Congress leader Tariq Anwar told NDTV that Sonia Gandhi had never asked for her name to be added to the voter roll, and that officials of the Election Commission at the time had done so.

“See… the Election Commission is at fault. Sonia Gandhi never said ‘my name should be added to the voter registration list’. Ultimately it was the Election Commission who added her…” he said.

Mr Anwar repeated that Mrs Gandhi had never made any such request.

When asked whether the central government of the time, led by the Congress, had pressured the poll panel to add Mrs Gandhi’s name, he said, “The Election Commission is an independent organisation… it is a constitutional organisation… and it takes its own decisions.”

“We (i.e., the Congress) are saying that today it has become a part of the BJP… it should come out of that and should work independently,” he said.

Congress’ Big ‘Vote Chori’ Claim

Allegations of voter fraud in Karnataka and Maharashtra, as well as possible fraud before the Bihar election where a “special intensive revision” was being conducted, had gained significant attention over the past few months.

Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of voter fraud.

The opposition, led by the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, alleged that the EC and BJP had worked together to ensure lakhs, possibly crores, of illegal votes were cast in last year’s elections.

He claimed that over 1.02 lakh illegal votes, including 80 from the same one-room house in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura, were counted in that Assembly segment, which he said cost them a Lok Sabha seat.

The opposition also claimed that more than one crore voters appeared on Maharashtra’s voter rolls months after the BJP’s alliance lost the Lok Sabha election in the state. The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance then won the Assembly election held four months later.

The “special intensive revision” in Bihar also became a flashpoint, with the opposition warning that the exercise was intended to disenfranchise lakhs of voters who might support them.

That matter was pending before the Supreme Court.

Poll Panel and BJP Reacted

The Election Commission rejected all these allegations, insisting that its processes were transparent and aimed at ensuring free and fair elections. It also called on Gandhi to submit his claims in a signed affidavit and provide evidence.

In a strong response on Friday, the Commission said the Congress had “tried to mislead the Supreme Court” in 2018, referring to a petition filed by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

The BJP also criticised Rahul Gandhi for “maligning a constitutional body”.

Home Minister Amit Shah mocked the Congress and Rahul Gandhi for expecting defeat in the Bihar election later this year and already searching for excuses. He said, “You keep losing election after election… and now you are looking for an excuse for defeat even before this election.”