Scrap SIR And EVMs Demand Raj And Uddhav Thackeray As Mega Mumbai March Calls For CEC Gyanesh Kumar Resignation

A massive sea of demonstrators marched through south Mumbai as estranged cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray united on a shared public stage to challenge the Election Commission of India. Thousands of party workers, student activists, and ordinary citizens joined the massive procession from Metro Cinema to the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Setting aside separate party symbols, the demonstrators carried the national tricolor to signal a collective fight for voting rights. The rare joint appearance by the two prominent regional leaders underscored how deeply contested voter list revisions have become across Maharashtra and the nation.

Addressing the vast gathering, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray called for the immediate scrapping of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision drive, commonly known as SIR. He argued that under existing legal provisions, such intensive voter roll revisions are strictly reserved for exceptional emergencies like major natural disasters or massive population displacement, requiring specific written justification. He questioned why a blanket revision was initiated without emergency conditions, pointing out that while forty to sixty lakh voters were added to Maharashtra rolls in earlier elections, nearly two crore names were being struck off through the current drive, demanding to know the exact identities and whereabouts of the deleted electors.

Raj Thackeray insisted that the country must discontinue electronic voting machines entirely and conduct all future democratic polling using traditional paper ballots. He stated that moving back to paper ballots is the only practical way to clear persistent doubts, ensure transparent counting, and settle election outcomes cleanly. Appealing directly to political parties across the country, the MNS chief urged opposition leaders to travel to New Delhi to press for systemic election reforms, emphasizing that governments must win office through fair and verifiable mandates rather than administrative maneuvers.

Sharing the platform, Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray launched a fierce attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the top poll official of acting as a political weapon for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The former Maharashtra chief minister warned the ruling establishment that relying on institutional control to crush democratic opposition carries grave risks, reminding authorities that historical autocrats who attempted to govern through arbitrary diktat ultimately faced disastrous downfalls. He declared that public resentment against voter roll manipulation is growing steadily and could soon spill onto the streets nationwide.

Uddhav Thackeray also raised serious concerns over nationwide voter deletions, claiming that vast numbers of eligible citizens across states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal were left missing from the registers. He criticized the selection procedure that appointed Gyanesh Kumar as head of the poll body, noting that removing the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel gave the central executive automatic control over the appointment despite written dissent from opposition leaders. He warned that using state institutions to manufacture political dominance damages the moral authority of the government.

The march in Mumbai unfolded against a backdrop of wider public unrest across the country. In New Delhi, student organizations and youth platforms like the Cockroach Janta Party staged continuous demonstrations near Jantar Mantar, facing heavy police barricades and detention while demanding the poll chief step down. Leaders at the Mumbai rally condemned the heavy-handed police actions witnessed in the capital, urging citizens to stand firm in defense of democratic rights.

The united demonstration marks a major escalation in the opposition campaign against the election machinery as political parties prepare for critical regional and national battles. By bringing together rival political cadres under a single banner, the Thackeray cousins have turned the technical debate over voter lists and voting machines into a potent street movement. With opposition groups threatening to take their protests to the national capital, the Election Commission and the central government face mounting pressure to address deep concerns regarding voter disenfranchisement and the credibility of Indian democracy.