New Delhi: Amid rising political alignment between Mr Thackeray’s cousins, Mr Raj and Mr Uddhav have now joined collectively to insist that native physique polls in Maharashtra ought to be postponed if “discrepancies” within the voter rolls usually are not remedied.
The Maharashtra opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) met state and Central Election Fee officers right here on Wednesday and raised allegations of large-scale fraud within the voter rolls. They had been joined by different political events.
Nationalist Congress Celebration (Sharacandra Pawar) MLA Jayant Patil, Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat and others participated within the assembly. Each leaders later addressed a joint press convention and mentioned the talks had been inconclusive.
The Thackerays accused each the State Election Fee and the Election Fee of India of failing to be clear and permitting manipulation of voter knowledge.
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Uddhav Thackeray mentioned at a press convention. “Now we have instructed them emphatically that there ought to be no election with out a revised voter record. We are going to watch for just a few days to listen to again from the CEO and the SEC earlier than deciding what to do subsequent.”
In the course of the assembly, leaders raised allegations of anomalies in voter knowledge, questioned the method of together with and eradicating names from voter lists, and cited examples from across the state.
Raj Thackeray claimed that the voter record was being tampered with in actual time.
“Yesterday, we confirmed the names of pretend voters to the fee at 6pm. By 7pm, the names had been faraway from the record. After we requested the officers what occurred, they mentioned they did not know and would look into it. If the election fee does not know who’s including or eradicating names, who ought to they ask?” he mentioned.
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Opposition query
Raj cited examples of some constituencies that he claimed embrace a number of entries of the identical voter, faux addresses, unrealistic age and different discrepancies.
“Within the 2024 elections, a voter named Nandini in Charkop constituency was listed as 124 years previous, whereas her father was listed as 43 years previous,” Raj mentioned. “If this continues, it’s higher to not maintain elections till the record is revised,” he added.
The leaders additionally referred to as on the European Fee to withdraw the notification, which gave them solely eight days to make claims and appeals. “We are going to wait just a few days after which resolve on our subsequent transfer,” Raj mentioned.
Uddhav Thackeray additionally accused the Election Fee of “corrupt and fraudulent practices” and warned that democracy in Maharashtra was underneath menace.
Jayant Patil and Uddhav Thackeray additionally mentioned that even earlier than the November 2024 meeting elections, the MVA had alleged that sure BJP members had been “interfering with the electoral course of”.
“It is a joke on democracy. We instructed the election fee that if it can not maintain a good election, then do not maintain it in any respect, or name it a variety and never an election,” Uddhav mentioned.
He additionally questioned the fee’s refusal to make use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Path (VVPAT) machines throughout municipal polls. “We have already got doubts about EVM and now EVM does not even use VVPAT. No up to date voter record, no digital camera footage, no transparency. Please vote.” choircelebration choir — Every little thing is occurring by means of backdoor entry,” Uddhav mentioned.
The leaders mentioned that they had submitted documentary proof and an in depth letter highlighting “severe deficiencies” within the voter rolls in every constituency.
For instance, in Murbad, 400 voters listed solely a ‘sprint’ as an alternative of their home quantity. In Badnera, the residence variety of 450 voters is listed as ‘0’. In Khamti province, 867 voters’ addresses had been marked as clean.
Equally, 813 voters in Nashik Central constituency and 869 voters in Pune Cantonment are all registered at a single deal with, it mentioned.
“In Nalasopara, a lady named Sushma Gupta was listed six occasions underneath totally different EPIC (elector photograph identification card) IDs. After information studies highlighted this, the entry disappeared from the EC web site by night. This means that another person is working the EC server,” Jayant Patil claimed.
Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat added that regardless of repeated complaints, no remedial motion was taken.
“We had raised these points in the course of the parliamentary elections as effectively. No amendments have been made for the previous six months and the identical flawed record is getting used once more,” Taurat mentioned. “The EC continues to shift accountability between state and central authorities. Nobody desires to take accountability,” Thorat mentioned.
No dates have been introduced for municipal polls in Maharashtra. Nonetheless, the Supreme Courtroom has set a deadline of January 31, 2026, for holding all native physique elections within the state.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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