The Garjana protest rally was jointly organised by Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS
State NCP (SP) president Shashikanth Shinde asked what poll officials and state govt plan to do about the “2 crore voters declared bogus” who cast their votes in the assembly elections.
Raj questioned the addition of nearly 1 crore votes for BJP in Maharashtra in the six months between the Lok Sabha elections and the assembly polls in 2024. “In those six months, 40-60 lakh votes were added to the rolls. BJP got 2.4 crore votes in the Lok Sabha elections and 3.1 crore in the assembly elections,” he said. Police invoked Sections 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant), 189 (unlawful assembly) and 190 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of BNS in the case filed against the protest’s organisers.
He said fear of loss of people’s faith in them—thereby resulting in loss of votes—usually deters those in govt from engaging in such poll roll manipulations. “But this fear is non-existent in the state and Union govts,” he said. Amit, attended the rally, Uddhav’s son, Aaditya, was unwell and could not attend it, said Shiv Sena (UBT) functionaries While Raj’s son.
Mumbai: The scrapping of special intensive revisions (SIRs) of electoral rolls, a return to paper ballots, and elections for the post of the chief election commissioner (CEC) formed the core demands at the joint ‘Garjana’ protest rally organised by Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday.
“The period since 2014 (of NDA’s governance) will be remembered as a ‘dark period’ in the country’s history.
Congress’s Balasaheb Thorat asserted that MVA’s loss in Maharashtra “was made possible only through the stealing of votes”. He said Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, has been flagging “vote theft” for a long time and had also presented evidence of it. “The selection committee earlier used to comprise the PM, the CJI and the leader of the opposition, but now, they have replaced the CJI with a minister of govt’s choice. ” He questioned the legal protection granted to the CEC. Citing the case of one such farmer, Jijabai Kachate, he said she planted soybean in her field in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, which failed. The same field where she saw her future, she saw her son’s final rites,” he said.
“All those who gained power did so through the theft of votes. They used various methods. Gyanesh Kumar is a symbol of this corrupt administration,” he alleged. Demanding reforms in the process of appointment of the poll chief, Uddhav questioned why the post is not subject to a vote. “If we can have elections for the President, why can’t we have an election for the CEC who is responsible for conducting elections across the entire country? Uddhav also criticised changes to the CEC selection panel. “By law, the CEC cannot be hauled up and prosecuted for his time as the commissioner. Why does the CEC have such protection that even the PM doesn’t have? Uddhav also spoke about the drought conditions in the state. “She then planted chillies, which too failed. Later, she planted corn, which also failed. The loans piled up. The banks came calling. And then her son died by suicide in the same field.
“Today, Maharashtra is facing a famine. We can’t even imagine the condition of the famine-plagued farmer today.