Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray held a joint protest march in Mumbai on Sunday. Both leaders demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. They alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
The march, dubbed the “Virat Garjna Morcha,” began at Metro Cinema and proceeded towards the BMC headquarters in South Mumbai. Leaders from the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also joined the protest.
Raj Thackeray said, “SIR should be completely repealed.”
During the protest, Raj Thackeray demanded the complete abolition of the SIR process in Maharashtra. He said that voting using EVMs should be abolished in the country and elections should be conducted using ballot paper again.
Raj Thackeray claimed that he has been raising questions about the electoral process since 2017-18. Referring to the deletion of voters’ names after the SIR, he said that the number of voters cannot suddenly decrease.
He stated that the people, not the Election Commission, will decide who will remain in power.
Uddhav Thackeray also raised questions about the electoral process. He alleged that CEC Gyanesh Kumar has influenced people’s voting rights.
Over 2 Crore Voters Excluded from Draft Roll in Maharashtra
Over 20.6 million voters have been excluded from Maharashtra’s draft voter list after the SIR. This number represents approximately 21.14 percent of the state’s total voter base.
Before the SIR, Maharashtra had approximately 97.8 million voters. Of these, 78.86 percent, or over 77.1 million, are included in the draft list.
According to data released in August, the draft voter list includes approximately 39.5 million men, 37.5 million women, and 3,087 third-gender voters.
20.6 million forms could not be collected
According to officials, enumeration forms for a total of 20,688,487 people could not be collected. This includes people who were not found at their respective addresses, who have died, or who have changed their residence.
Pune had the highest number of uncollected enumeration forms at 2.86 million, followed by Thane with 2.85 million, Mumbai suburbs with 2.65 million, Nagpur with 1.443 million, Nashik with 1.027 million, and Mumbai city with 9.5 million.
Eligible voters left out of the draft voter list were given time until September 30 to file their claims and objections. The final voter list is scheduled to be released on November 4th.
This protest took place two days after the “Jail Bharo Andolan” against the CEC at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. This protest was organized by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).