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Mumbai, Nov 1 (IANS) Opposition parties in Maharashtra – including Shiv Sena-UBT, Congress, NCP-SP, CPI, CPM, Peasants and Workers Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) – took out a morcha in south Mumbai on Saturday, appealing to party workers and voters to remain vigilant against vote theft, duplicate and fake voters and discrepancies in voter lists, especially ahead of the upcoming local and civic body elections.
Terming the rally as “Sachcha Morcha”, the opposition parties claimed that they have come together to protect the Constitution of India and its sanctity by strongly advocating for free, fair and transparent elections.
Veteran leaders including NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, MNS chief Raj Thackeray and others urged their party cadres and voters to remain alert ahead of the elections and prevent irregularities in the voter list.
He said the opposition has forgotten political differences to unite on the issue of protecting people’s right to vote.
Workers of various opposition parties gathered in large numbers and raised slogans accusing the BJP-led governments at the Center and Maharashtra of increasing control over constitutional and autonomous bodies, including the Election Commission.
The morcha, which started from Fashion Street and ended at Azad Maidan, saw opposition supporters carrying party flags, placards and banners demanding fair elections and a clean voter list.
Veteran Shiv Sena-UBT MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said: “Today’s front will bring a revolution and shake up the BJP, which has been winning elections through vote theft.”
NCP-SP MLA from Malshiraj constituency Uttam Jankar alleged vote rigging during the state assembly elections and claimed that the Election Commission did not respond to repeated representations regarding deletion of votes and EVM malfunction. He urged the participants to thwart any attempt to remove genuine voters or tamper with the electronic voting machines.
State Congress chief spokesperson Sachin Sawant took a jibe at the BJP, saying, “We have heard that the Bharatiya Janata Party has conducted a silent protest against today’s morcha. Will the Election Commission also take part in this silent protest? We are curious to see.”
Opposition leaders, including Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, questioned the “haste” in conducting local and civic body elections despite significant errors in voter lists. He demanded that the elections be postponed by a year to allow time to correct discrepancies in the voter list.
Sharad Pawar and other leaders appealed to the workers to intensify contact efforts, ensuring that the names of eligible voters are correctly included in the list. He also asked the workers to identify duplicate and fake voters and ensure that such names are excluded to protect the integrity of the voting process.
–IANS
SJ/PGH