Uddhav, Raj Thackeray lead Mumbai protest against Election Commission, calls Gyanesh Kumar weapon of BJP

PTC News Desk: The Thackeray cousins, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, led a joint protest in Mumbai on Sunday against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. They alleged irregularities in the election process and demanded his resignation.

The protest, called the Virat Garjana Morcha, started at Metro Cinema in south Mumbai and moved towards the BMC headquarters. Leaders and workers from the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also joined the march.

The protesters opposed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and accused the Election Commission of irregularities. They demanded that the exercise be stopped in Maharashtra.

Raj Thackeray took a dig at the CEC, saying, “Gyanesh Kaka, don’t loot the vote.” He also called for elections to be held using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines.

“Our demand is that the entire SIR conducted in Maharashtra should be cancelled. The law says that SIR is conducted if an emergency situation arises. Forty to sixty lakh voters were added during the Assembly elections, and power was captured through this. And now, through SIR, two crore people are being removed. Who are these two crore voters?” Raj Thackeray said.

“I appeal to all political parties to go to Delhi and demand that the SIR be cancelled. Voting machines should be discontinued, and elections should be conducted using ballot papers,” he added.

Uddhav Thackeray said the protest was against what he described as authoritarian rule and alleged that large numbers of voters were being removed from electoral rolls.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the march was a united protest against what he called attacks on democratic institutions, elections and citizens’ constitutional rights. He also raised allegations of misconduct against a woman journalist during a recent protest at Jantar Mantar and questioned Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the incident.

The joint march had been announced last month by Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. Congress and NCP leaders were also invited to take part in the protest.