Thackeray cousins lead Mumbai protest against voter-roll revision

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray led a march in Mumbai on Sunday demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Maharashtra. The march began at Metro Cinema and ended at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters. Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) workers also took part.

Mumbai police said about 6,000 protesters attended. Police said permission had not been granted for the gathering and that cases would be filed against its organisers under the provision covering assembly without permission. The report does not state whether arrests were made or identify the specific organisers named in any police complaint.

Uddhav Thackeray criticised the centralisation of decisions concerning voter verification. He referred to a letter from Maharashtra’s election officer, S. Chockalingam, and argued that election officials in the State should retain authority over the process.

He accused Kumar of acting as a tool of the ruling side and alleged that the revision could deprive people of their voting rights. Raj Thackeray also demanded that the revision be scrapped and called for electronic voting machines to be replaced with ballot papers. Referring to a letter attributed to former Home Ministry secretary R.K.

Singh, he argued that a revision should have recorded reasons and been conducted for a constituency where grounds existed. The two leaders cited claims that large numbers of names had been removed from draft rolls nationally and in Maharashtra. Those figures and allegations were presented at the protest and have not been independently verified in the supplied material.

The issue is before the Supreme Court, according to the report. Uddhav Thackeray also spoke about drought and farmer distress, while accusing the ruling side of trying to divide his party. The Election Commission’s response to the protest leaders’ allegations was not included.