Thackeray cousins plan Mumbai march over electoral-roll revision

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has announced a joint public march with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on October 4, with the parties opposing the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Raj Thackeray made the announcement on Saturday, September 26. He said the event would be a public movement intended to raise concerns about the electoral-roll revision process.

The two leaders are expected to appear together at the protest. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief criticised the Election Commission of India and its chief, Gyanesh Kumar. He alleged that the commission had acted as a wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party and accused Mr.

Kumar of using the revision exercise to defraud citizens. Those allegations were made by Mr. Thackeray and were not accompanied in the supplied material by a response from the Election Commission or the BJP.

Mr. Thackeray said irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision, along with comments by election commissioners about the process, showed that it should be scrapped. He also called on opposition parties across the country to unite around the issue.

He said the wider campaign should include a large demonstration and a demand that elections be conducted using ballot papers. The source material does not specify which elections the demand concerns. The time and venue for the October 4 march will be announced later, according to the announcement.

The proposed protest would bring together the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT), led respectively by Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray, over their objections to the electoral-roll revision.