Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Nov 1: In a rare show of unity, Maharashtra’s key Opposition leaders — Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray — came together on Saturday for a massive protest march in Mumbai, alleging large-scale irregularities in voter lists ahead of the civic elections.

The ‘Satyacha Morcha’ (March for Truth) commenced from Fashion Street in south Mumbai and culminated at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters. Thousands of supporters joined the rally amid tight police security and traffic diversions across key routes in the city.

Addressing the gathering, Raj Thackeray came down heavily on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of rushing to conduct civic polls without rectifying discrepancies in the voter lists. He alleged that there were lakhs of duplicate entries across Maharashtra.

“I have a list of 4,500 voters who voted in Malabar Hill constituency while residing in Kalyan, Dombivli, Bhiwandi and Murbad. They voted twice — and there are lakhs more like them,” he claimed, displaying stacks of documents that reportedly contained duplicate voter details.

He further alleged that multiple voters were registered at the residence of the Pune municipal commissioner. “This is an insult to the common voter who stands patiently in line to exercise his right,” he said, demanding an immediate clean-up of the lists before the elections.

Uddhav Thackeray, in his address, likened the BJP and its allies to an “anaconda” trying to strangle democracy. “They have stolen my party, my symbol, and now they want to steal democracy itself,” he remarked. Urging citizens to check their names on the electoral rolls, he warned of widespread attempts to delete genuine voters.

“We found fake mobile numbers and forged details linked to my name and address. This is a planned move to remove genuine voters and manipulate the polls,” Thackeray said, accusing the ruling coalition of “killing democracy” through electoral tampering.

The Opposition leaders reiterated that local body elections in Maharashtra must be held only after the voter list discrepancies are corrected.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra BJP staged a ‘silent protest’ in Girgaon to counter the Opposition’s march. Party members, led by state president Ravindra Chavan, wore black tapes across their mouths, accusing the MVA of spreading “false narratives” to mislead the public.

“MVA leaders are repeating their old tactics of spreading misinformation, just as they did before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Chavan said, calling the ‘Satyacha Morcha’ an “attempt to divert attention from their failures.”

The day’s events marked a striking political moment in Maharashtra — with rival cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray walking shoulder to shoulder — united against what they described as a growing threat to free and fair elections.