Mumbai: At a massive rally in Mumbai Saturday, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) emphasised that unless the voters’ list is clean, there should not be any local body polls in the state.
The Supreme Court has directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to complete elections to various local bodies, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), by 31 January 2026.
The state election body had written to the ECI to provide the 15 October updated voters’ list by 24 October, but the ECI is yet to accept the request.
Meanwhile, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar said that the gathering of workers from all the opposition parties reminded him of the ‘Samyukta Maharashtra’ movement from the late 1950s to 1960.
The ‘Satyacha Morcha (Morcha for Truth)’ began from Fashion Street and reached the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters, where a stage was set up on a truck for speeches by top opposition leaders.
At the rally, most opposition leaders raised questions over alleged fraud in the voters’ list, with Raj Thackeray pointing out specific examples from Lok Sabha constituencies. Besides Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Balasaheb Thorat, Jayant Patil, Supriya Sule, Satej Patil, and Aaditya Thackeray were among those present.
Sharad Pawar said, “Looking at this morcha, I am reminded of the old days…the ‘Samyukta Maharashtra’ days when morchas used to be taken out from Maharashtra. They used to be historic. Today, looking at the unity here, I am reminded of that movement.”
The ‘Samyukta Maharashtra’ movement advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in western India and central India from 1956 to 1960.
Pawar also advised everyone to overlook their political differences and stand together. “What happened in Vidhan Sabha elections was a shock to everyone. It questioned the trust in democracy. Today, people are disturbed everywhere. The government is abusing power, and we have to face all of this. For that, we need to forget our differences and come together and fight this out.”
In his speech, Raj Thackeray, armed with boxes full of duplicate voters, spoke about dubious voters. He alleged that in the 2024 Maharashtra elections, nearly 4,500 people from Kalyan Rural, Dombivali, Bhiwandi, and Murbad voted in their constituencies as well as in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill.
“This morcha is to show anger, strength, and carry forward voices to Delhi. When everyone is saying that they have doubts over duplicate voters, why is there a haste for elections?” Raj asked. “Local body polls have not happened in the last five years. How does it matter if the election didn’t happen for another year?”
Giving another instance, he alleged that in the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency, there are over 65,000 dubious voters. In Mumbai South, the number is over 55,000, he added. He also claimed that in the Thane Lok Sabha, over two lakh dubious voters were registered.
Uddhav Thackeray, on the other hand, alleged that someone was trying to delete his name from the voters’ list.
“A few days ago, I was told that I had made an application to the election commission to verify my name in the voters’ list. This was done on an application called Saksham. But in reality, I never made that application. Someone gave a wrong phone number and tried to manipulate the voters’ list, and probably even delete my name. They tried to hack the list. I have made a written complaint,” said Uddhav Thackeray.
He then appealed to people to remain vigilant and check whether their names are in the voters’ list or not.
The Congress also participated in the rally. The party’s state leaders were present, and Balasaheb Thorat, a senior leader, said on the occasion that when Rahul Gandhi raised the issue, the ECI chose not to answer him.
“Even in Sangamner, my constituency, there are 9,000 bogus voters. We complained, but nothing happened. The voters’ list needs to be cleaned before elections are held,” Thorat said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)