Mumbai: At an enormous rally in Mumbai on Saturday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) pressured that native physique polls shouldn’t be held within the state except the voter checklist is clear.
The Supreme Court docket has directed the Maharashtra State Election Fee to finish elections to numerous native our bodies, together with the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC), by January 31, 2026.
The state election authority had written to the ECI on October 15 to supply the up to date voter checklist by October 24, however the ECI is but to just accept the request.
In the meantime, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar mentioned the mobilization of employees from all opposition events was paying homage to the ‘Sayyukta Maharashtra Motion’ of the late Nineteen Fifties and Sixties.
The ‘Satyacha Morcha (Fact Morcha)’ began from Vogue Road and ended on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC) headquarters, the place a stage was arrange on a truck for speeches by opposition leaders.
On the rally, most opposition leaders questioned the alleged irregularities within the voter checklist, with Raj Thackeray pointing to a particular instance from the Sabah constituency. Apart from Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Balasaheb Thorat, Jayan Patil, Supriya Sule, Satej Patil, Aaditya Thackeray and others had been current.
Sharad Pawar mentioned, “Taking a look at this morcha, it jogs my memory of the previous days… the times of ‘Sayukta Maharashtra’ when the morcha was introduced out of Maharashtra. It was historic as soon as. Immediately, once I see the unity right here, I’m reminded of that motion.”
The Samyukta Maharashtra motion advocated an unbiased Marathi-speaking state in western and central India from 1956 to 1960.
Pawar additionally suggested everybody to disregard political variations and unite. “What occurred within the Vidhan Sabha elections was a shock to everybody. Religion in democracy was questioned. Immediately, persons are in turmoil all over the place. The federal government is abusing its energy and we’ve got to face all this. That’s the reason we have to overlook our variations and unite to battle this downside.”
In his speech, Raj Thackeray held a field stuffed with duplicate voters and spoke about uncertain voters. He claimed that just about 4,500 individuals from rural Kalyan, Dombivali, Bhiwandi and Murabad voted of their constituencies and Malabar Hills in Mumbai within the 2024 Maharashtra elections.
“This morcha is to indicate anger and power and provides voice to Delhi. Everyone seems to be saying they’ve doubts about twin voters, so why rush the elections?” Raj requested. “Native physique polls haven’t been held for the previous 5 years. What is going to occur if elections aren’t held for an additional 12 months?”
Citing one other instance, it claimed that there are over 65,000 uncertain voters in Lok Sabha constituency in north Mumbai. In south Mumbai, the quantity is over 55,000, he added. He additionally claimed that there are greater than 200,000 uncertain voters registered in Thane Lok Sabah.
In the meantime, Uddhav Thackeray claimed that somebody was making an attempt to take away his identify from the voters’ checklist.
“A couple of days in the past, I used to be advised that I had submitted an utility to the Election Fee to confirm my identify within the voters’ checklist. This was finished on an utility known as Saksham. However in actuality, I by no means made the appliance. Somebody tried to control the voters’ checklist by giving a mistaken cellphone quantity and even perhaps deleted my identify. They tried to hack the checklist. I’ve filed a written grievance,” Uddhav Thackeray mentioned.
He urged individuals to stay vigilant and examine whether or not their names are on the voter checklist.
Congress additionally took half within the rally. The get together’s state leaders had been additionally current and senior chief Balasaheb Thorat mentioned on the event that when Rahul Gandhi raised the difficulty, the ECI selected to not reply him.
“Even in my constituency, Sangamner metropolis, there are 9,000 faux voters. We’ve got lodged a grievance however nothing has occurred. The voter checklist must be worn out earlier than elections are held,” Thorat mentioned.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
