Maharashtra Opposition To Hold Protest Over Voter Roll Irregularities
Opposition parties in Maharashtra have announced a protest march in Mumbai on November 1 against the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging large-scale irregularities in the state's electoral rolls
Mumbai: Opposition parties in Maharashtra have announced a protest march in Mumbai on November 1 against the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging large-scale irregularities in the state's electoral rolls. The announcement comes days after a delegation comprising senior leaders from the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) met with Chief Electoral Officer S. Chokalingam and State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare.
The leaders expressed serious concerns over several discrepancies in the voter lists, including incomplete addresses, incorrect house numbers, inclusion of non-resident voters, and instances where hundreds of voters were registered at a single address. The opposition has demanded immediate corrective measures and greater transparency from the ECI ahead of upcoming elections.
Addressing a joint press conference at Shiv Sena Bhavan on Sunday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the opposition has been confronting the ECI over the past several days regarding these irregularities. “We do not know what the outcome of this confrontation will be, but there are still 96 lakh infiltrator voters in Maharashtra’s electoral rolls. For the sake of democracy, it is essential to remove these infiltrators,” he said.
The joint press conference was also addressed by NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar and senior Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant among other leaders.
Mr.Raut further alleged that the opposition’s fight is against what he described as “match-fixing” by the ECI. He also appealed to Union home minister Amit Shah, citing his earlier declaration to identify and remove infiltrators from electoral rolls. “I appeal to him to remove the one crore bogus voters that have been enrolled in the electoral rolls of Maharashtra,” he said.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader also pointed out that even some members of the ruling alliance had acknowledged voter roll irregularities. He cited a statement by Paithan MLA Vilas Bhumare, who allegedly claimed to have enrolled 20,000 voters from outside the constituency, which Mr Raut said directly contributed to Mr Bhumare’s election victory. He further noted that BJP MLA Manda Mhatre and Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad had also spoken publicly about voter duplication and other irregularities.
Congress’s Sachin Sawant claimed that despite raising the concerns over the irregularities in the voter’s list, the State Election Commission and the Maharashtra CEO did not give importance to the opposition’s views.
Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil added that the ruling parties can also join the protest march, which is not against any party, but against those who want to harm democracy.
