Garjana Morcha: Uddhav, Raj Thackeray Lead Protest Seeking Gyanesh Kumar’s Resignation, Scrapping Of Maharashtra SIR

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday led a protest seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of irregularities in the special intensive revision process.

The protest, called the Virat Garjana Morcha, began from Metro Cinema in South Mumbai and ended in front of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters, where Uddhav and Raj Thackeray addressed the crowd.

‘Scrap Maharashtra SIR’: Raj

Raj Thackeray demanded that the special intensive revision process that is underway in the state must be cancelled. He also demanded that polling should be conducted with ballot papers, instead of electronic voting machines, or EVMs. “If these two things happen, the reality will become clear,” he said. 

The MNS chief questioned how the total number of voters in Maharashtra “increased by 40 lakh to 60 lakh” in the six-month period between the Lok Sabha election 2024 and the Assembly polls held later that year.

Raj Thackeray took note of a legal opinion expressed by former Union Home Secretary RK Singh that a special intensive revision is meant for exceptional circumstances such as natural disasters or large-scale population displacement. The MNS chief alleged that the SIR in its present form was illegal.

Protest held to ‘overthrow dictator’: Uddhav

Uddhav Thackeray, on his part, said that the protest on Sunday was held to “overthrow a dictator”, alleging that the names of 13 crore voters had been deleted from voter rolls as part of the SIR process. He refered to voters being excluded in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu and noted that people have approached the Supreme Court seeking their right to vote. 

The former Maharashtra chief minister remarked that the whole country is now standing against “vote chor”, and alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was appointed in a “partisan manner”.

“When the Congress was in power, an atmosphere was created that it was the most corrupt government ever, with the slogan India Against Corruption,” Uddhav Thackeray said. “Now, the entire country is standing up and saying ‘India against Vote Chor’.”

The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief remarked that the Bharatiya Janata Party and governance were a “contradiction in terms”.

“The BJP cannot run an administration,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said. “The way they run the government is not governance; it is revenge.”

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