Uddhav, Raj Thackeray join hands in Mumbai protest against SIR

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday (October 4) accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of acting as a “weapon” for the ruling BJP, even as MNS leader Raj Thackeray demanded cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Maharashtra’s electoral rolls.

Thousands of people joined the protest march led by the Thackeray cousins in Mumbai against the CEC, which culminated in a rally. Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Wadettiwar as well as Jayant Patil, Shashikant Shinde, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) participated in the rally.

Participants of the agitation, dubbed the Virat Garjana Morcha (Grand Roar March), demanded the removal/resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR process. Party flags were not allowed in the march, and the participants were asked to carry only the national tricolour.

The march began from the Metro Cinema and traversed the short distance to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai.

‘Scrap SIR, stop EVM voting’

Demanding the removal or resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Raj Thackeray called for the SIR exercise in Maharashtra to be scrapped and electronic voting machines (EVMs) to be replaced with ballot papers.

Also read: Protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar continue; AISA activists, senior advocates held in Delhi

“The SIR process in Maharashtra must be completely scrapped. Voting through electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the country should be stopped, and we should go back to voting through ballot papers,” Raj said while addressing thousands of supporters.

“I have been saying since 2017-18 that there is something wrong here. The number of votes cannot suddenly decrease,” he said, referring to the deletion of voters following the SIR. “Our anger is about how this government is being run and through what means it is being run. The Election Commission will not decide who should be in power — the people will decide,” Raj added.

Uddhav also attacked the Election Commission, accusing it of “snatching away” voting rights. “If the purpose of the SIR exercise was to remove Bangladeshis from the voters' list, how many Bangladeshis did you find?” he asked.

Opposition comes together

Uddhav said the participation of different opposition parties showed that the issue had brought them together despite their political differences. “Everybody is trying to raise the issue in their own way. But the agenda is one,” he said.

The NCP (SP) has also backed the march, with its working president Supriya Sule saying the party was supporting the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS joint rally.

Also read: Huge protests in Delhi, Mumbai demanding CEC's ouster; nearly 700 detained in Capital

The scale of the electoral roll revision has become a major point of contention in Maharashtra. More than 2.06 crore electors’ names were missing from the draft electoral roll following the SIR. Before the exercise, Maharashtra had 9.78 crore voters, of whom 78.86 per cent were included in the draft roll.

The draft roll released in August had more than 7.71 crore voters, including 3.95 crore men, 3.75 crore women and 3,087 third-gender voters.

Pune recorded the highest number of uncollectable enumeration forms at 28.6 lakh, followed by Thane with 28.5 lakh, Mumbai Suburban with 26.5 lakh, Nagpur with 14.43 lakh, Nashik with 10.27 lakh and Mumbai City with 9.5 lakh, according to officials.

EC under Opposition fire

The Election Commission has also faced criticism following an Indian Express investigation which reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times in 10 months to decisions taken in the Commission’s name without their knowledge. The objections reportedly related to the form used by new voters, the software holding electoral rolls and appeals against restored voters in West Bengal.

Also read: 'CEC must go': Dipke announces new Jantar Mantar protest on Oct 10

For Uddhav, the confrontation with the Election Commission also has a personal dimension. The June 2022 revolt led by Eknath Shinde split the Shiv Sena founded by Uddhav’s father, Bal Thackeray. In February 2023, the Election Commission awarded the Shiv Sena name and the bow-and-arrow symbol to the Shinde faction.

Uddhav had strongly questioned the Commission’s role in the decision, and the loss of the party name and symbol associated with his father has remained a major source of resentment.

The latest march brings the Thackeray cousins together on an issue that has given the opposition a common platform, with the parties now demanding changes to the electoral roll revision process and greater accountability from the Election Commission.

(With agency inputs)