Mumbai, (UNI) Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said here on Monday that the local civic body elections in Maharashtra must be held only after voters’ lists are cleaned up.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Uddhav Thackeray dismissed the BJP’s allegations of “appeasement politics” and “vote jihad” regarding voters’ lists irregularities, saying that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition never referred to any bogus voters by their religion.
“We haven’t asked for voter rolls correction based on anybody’s religion. We will move the court asking for correcting voters’ lists,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
Uddhav Thackeray said that Election Commission and the central government were “scared of Gen Z”, adding that voters turning 18 years after July 1 will be deprived of their right to vote since the Election Commission has set a cut-off date of July 1 to be eligible to vote in the local civic body elections.
“The Election Commission should rectify errors, including duplicate and bogus names, in the voters’ list. Neither Shiv Sena nor any other opposition party ever referred to any bogus voter by religion. We are not opposing elections but we want them to be held only after the rolls are cleaned up,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
He urged potential voters to visit the nearest Shiv Sena office to verify whether their names are listed correctly or if any errors or omissions have occurred.
“We are opening special centres for voters’ convenience. People must check whether they can vote in their polling stations so that we know how many youngsters are being deprived of voting rights,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
Uddhav Thackeray ridiculed BJP leader and Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar for unknowingly admitting at an earlier press conference on Monday that there is indeed a problem with voters’ lists and scoring a self goal.
“First of all, I congratulate Ashish Shelar for proving that there is a mess in the voters’ list. We have also been repeatedly saying that there is a mess, but Chief Minister Fadnavis had denied it. But now Shelar has admitted that voters’ lists are messed up. I admire Ashish Shelar for having the courage. I don’t know what happened to Ashish Shelar, but I admire him. Shelar has killed many birds with one stone,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
Earlier on Monday, BJP leader and Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar alleged at a press conference that Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray were engaging in appeasement politics and that they had pointed out instances of only Hindu Marathi duplicate voters.
Shelar had questioned why the Thackeray cousins had stopped short of naming voters from other communities. Shelar said that in the voters’ list used in the state to conduct the Lok Sabha elections, there were as many as 2,25,716 duplicate Muslim voters in 31 assembly constituencies. Shelar claimed that there are more than 16 lakh such duplicate voters in all 288 constituencies.
“Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray only see Hindu-Marathi duplicate voters? Why do they turn a blind eye to Muslim double voters?” Shelar said, adding that he will take the matter to the Election Commission.
Uddhav Thackeray also raised concerns about the Election Commission’s Saksham app andd its computer server, claiming that irregularities could lead to wrongful deletion of names of genuine voters.
“We are exposing the corrupt practices of the Election Commission. If there are voters registered at your address who don’t belong there, then please point them out. The Shiv Sena and other opposition parties have decided to go to court seeking rectification of duplicate and bogus entries before polls are conducted,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
Uddhav says local polls must be held only after clean up of voters’ list
