Raj, Uddhav lead anti-CEC morcha, FIR against organisers

Mumbai: The Mumbai police on Sunday, October 4, registered an FIR against the organisers of the morning protest march led by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS president Raj Thackeray, saying it was taken out without the requisite permission, an official said.

Thousands of people joined the march against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, which began at the Metro Cinema and traversed near the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai.

“An offence has been registered at the Azad Maidan police station against the organisers for conducting today’s morcha without requisite permission,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Manish Kalwaniya said.

While Uddhav accused the CEC of acting as a “weapon” for the ruling BJP, Raj demanded cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Maharashtra’s electoral rolls.

The latter demanded that future polls in the country be conducted through paper ballots.

“If the SIR was conducted to weed out Bangladeshis from the voters’ list, then how many Bangladeshis residing illegally in the country did the government find? Gyanesh Kumar is a weapon of the BJP,” they alleged.

The Thackeray cousins demanded cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Maharashtra. “If the SIR was conducted to weed out Bangladeshis from the voters’ list, then how many Bangladeshis residing illegally in the country did the government find?” Uddhav Thackeray asked.

Senior Congress leader Thorat said Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been speaking about “vote theft” for a long time and had also presented evidence.

“And now that evidence has come out through the Election Commission. The BJP can do anything for power,” he said while criticising the manner in which the apex poll panel’s members were being appointed.

The process of appointing the Election Commission was changed, and a Supreme Court judge was removed from it (selection panel), and this is where it (irregularities) started, Thorat claimed.

“All those who gain power do so through the theft of votes. They use various methods. Gyanesh Kumar is a symbol of this corrupt administration,” the senior Congress leader alleged.

The period since 2014 will be remembered as a “dark period” in the country’s history. The Narendra Modi-led NDA dispensation has been in power since 2014.

“We now have to correct this. We have to re-establish democracy and Constitution and protect their dignity. All of you will have to rise. You will have to struggle, and once again, all of us will have to work to save democracy,” Thorat said.

The morcha, dubbed the Virat Garjana Morcha (Grand Roar March), began from the Metro Cinema and traversed the short distance to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai.

Participants sought removal/resignation of the CEC over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Party flags were not allowed in the march. The participants and supporters were asked to carry only the Tricolour.

The morcha comes two days after the Cockroach Janta Party held a Jail Bharo Andolan against the Chief Election Commissioner at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.