Maharashtra political parties protest Election Commission voter list revision

Political tensions are rising in Maharashtra over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. Major political entities have announced protests against the commission’s processes and alleged irregularities in voter registration.

On September 28, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) scheduled a state-wide protest, demanding the removal and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Congress party alleges that over 30 million voters have been removed from lists in Maharashtra, and claims approximately 130 million names have been deleted nationwide. They have also raised concerns regarding voter list changes in Bihar and West Bengal.

In response, MNS leader Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray have announced a joint public demonstration in Mumbai on October 4. The duo aims to highlight concerns regarding the SIR process, which they claim could impact voter rights through large-scale changes to electoral rolls. They have called upon other political parties and citizens to join the movement.

The Election Commission has defended its actions, stating that all orders related to the SIR were issued with the approval of the full commission. The commission noted that differing opinions among commissioners, including reported objections from Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, are a standard part of the institutional deliberative process.