Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday demanded the immediate scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra and a return to paper ballots for all future elections, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of undermining electoral transparency.
Uddhav Thackeray targets BJP and Election Commission
The march, which began at Metro Cinema and proceeded towards the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters in South Mumbai, brought together MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, along with leaders and workers from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), Left parties and the Peasants and Workers Party. “I have only two demands. First, the SIR conducted in Maharashtra must be scrapped. Second, all future elections must be conducted on ballot papers. He recalled meeting senior opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar, to discuss the issues. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray also criticised the BJP-led government at the Centre, accusing it of gaining control over institutions and engineering splits within political parties. Raj Thackeray maintained that returning to paper ballots would help restore public confidence in elections, arguing that the priority should be ensuring a fair mandate, regardless of which party ultimately forms the government. The Election Commission will not decide who should be in power the people will decide,” he added.
Raj Thackeray said he had been raising concerns about EVMs and voter list discrepancies since 2017-18.
“A Special Intensive Revision can only be conducted under exceptional circumstances, such as natural disasters, floods, earthquakes, or massive population displacement, and even then, only for specific constituencies with written justifications,” Raj Thackeray said. This will ensure complete transparency, doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani,” he said. He said he had previously suggested that opposition parties consider a united boycott of elections to force greater transparency in the electoral process. Earlier reporting noted: Uddhav Thackeray said that Kumar has “snatched away” the voting rights.
Earlier reporting noted: The Thackeray cousins began a march — dubbed the Virat Garjana Morcha (Grand Roar March) — from the Metro Cinema and traversed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai, with leaders of Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also joining them. Earlier reporting noted: “Our anger is about how this government is being run and through what means it is being run.
