Sonia Gandhi listed as voter before becoming citizen: BJP's big charge

The BJP on Wednesday counterattacked by claiming ex-Congress boss Sonia Gandhi had been illegally, though briefly, added to the voter list 45 years ago, before she was an Indian citizen. Ex-Union Minister Anurag Thakur claimed Mrs Gandhi - born Sonia Maino in Italy in 1946 - was added on the list from 1980 to1982, a year before she was an Indian citizen. Bjp leader Amit Malviya said,a 'photocopy of the extract from electoral rolls of 1980, indicating Sonia Gandhi was a voter when she did not yet acquire the citizenship of Bharat'. "If this isn't blatant electoral malpractice, what is?"  Thakur claimed Mrs Gandhi - who married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968 - had been added to the voter list while the Gandhi family lived at the official residence of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi’s tryst with India’s voters’ list is riddled with glaring violations of electoral law. This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi’s fondness for regularising ineligible and illegal voters, and his opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Her name first appeared… pic.twitter.com/upl1LM8Xhl

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 13, 2025 

Anurag Thakur claimed that Congress and other opposition leaders won seats with the help of “ghuspaithi voters (intruder or infiltrator voters)”. Thakur alleged irregularities in voter registration in Rae Bareli, Wayanad, Diamond Harbour and Kannauj parliamentary seats and asked Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Abhishek Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav to resign as Lok Sabha MPs, alleging they secured victory in elections with "vote chori". Giving a slide-show presentation on the issue at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on an 'analysis' of electoral rolls in these constituencies represented by opposition leaders, former Union minister Anurag Thakur also flagged "irregularities" in the voter registration in Kolathur assembly seat in Tami Nadu and in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and asked Chief Minister and DMK supremo M K Stalin and SP leader Dimple Yadav to resign for "rigging" election.. "If there is a record of losing elections 90 times under someone's leadership, then it is under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi," he said.

किस बात का डर है राहुल गांधी जी? pic.twitter.com/caTVJvExQX

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) August 13, 2025

He slammed the Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party and DMK leaders for raising questions on the Election Commission and accused them of running a vicious propaganda against the special intensive revision (SIR) of the elector rolls, which is currently underway in Bihar and would be launched in other states, to protect their "vote bank of illegal Bangladeshi infiltration" and other "intruders".

Anurag Thakur alleged that Rahul Gandhi blames Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) whenever he loses elections. He said that after every defeat, Congress tries to find excuses instead of taking accountability. Thakur accused Congress of blaming EVMs, the Election Commission and constitutional institutions without introspection. He alleged that Congress is already engaging in making false allegations in connivance with opposition parties. Thakur asserted that, seeing that they are likely to lose the Bihar elections, Congress has joined hands with the opposition to peddle lies.