Thackeray cousins lead march to BMC against CEC, seek end to SIR in Maharashtra
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray works with Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray during the Garjana protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai on October 4, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI
Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray led a march in Mumbai on Sunday (October 4, 2026) demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, the CEC, and the scrapping of the SIR electoral roll in Maharashtra. The march added to the campaign that opposition parties opposed the Election Commission over the SIR and the panel’s work, and the police said they would file charges against the organizers for gathering without a permit.
The march started at Metro Cinema and ended at BMC headquarters. Congress and NCP (SP) workers also attended. The police said that the administration had not granted permission and that cases would be filed against the organizers under the section dealing with assembly without permission. Mumbai police reported that approximately 6,000 protesters had gathered.
Uddhava Thackeray wards
In the meeting, Mr. Uddhav Thackeray said that voter verification decisions have been centralized. Quoting a letter from S. Chockalingam, Maharashtra Elections Officer, to the Commission, he said the officer wrote after he realized that the right to decide who could vote did not lie with the BLO and rested with Mr. Kumar. “Who is he to decide that?” he asked.
He said election officials in the state should have their own powers. He called Mr. Kumar a “weapon” in the hands of the ruling party and said they were taking away the right to vote through him. He said he questioned the appointment of Mr. Kumar by the Central Committee, the change in the composition of the committee that selects the Election Commissioner and the selection of Mr. Kumar over opposition objections.
“You can control the institutions but the streets belong to us,” said Mr. Uddhav Thackeray. He said that if a dictator was formed under Mak in India, the assemblies would bury that dictatorship. He said the removal of approximately 13 million names from nominations across the country and 2 million in the state amounted to disenfranchisement. He said the names were also removed in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, asked if voters could vote in by-polls and noted that the matter was pending in the Supreme Court.
Raj Thackeray’s Arguments
Mr. Raj Thackeray at a meeting of Virat Garjana Morcha demanded resignation of Mr. Kumar, scrapping of SIR and replacement of EVMs with ballot papers. He quoted a letter from Mr. RK Singh, who served as Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, which said that revision can be done if there are reasons, with the reasons recorded in writing and for the constituency. The law does not allow SIRs across India, he said, adding that disaster, migration, duplication of names or complaints against the electoral roll are reasons for revision. In his opinion, this exercise now has no basis in law.
He said that voters usually increase before council elections and that two billion people have now been removed from the rolls. He questioned the increase in the number of voters between the Lok Sabha elections and the parliamentary elections in 2024. He asked the Commission to state how many of those left out of the list were identified as Bangladeshi immigrants. “Are those two million people from Bangladesh? Give the details, we will find them and throw them out of the country,” he said.
Mr. Raj Thackeray said that he spoke about vote stealing with Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee who was the Chief Minister of West Bengal. He said he had made the allegations since 2017-18 and asked the opposition leaders to boycott the elections to bring the irregularities to light. He asked the parties to demand the cancellation of the exercise and said if the EVMs are closed and the voters use the ballot papers, it will show who stands where. It doesn’t matter who comes to power tomorrow, he said.
The plight of farmers
Mr. Uddhav Thackeray also spoke about the drought and said that the condition of farmers is beyond imagination. He said that Jijabai Kachate of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar sowed soybeans and it did not grow and that her son ended his life in the field because of the loan. No one visits such families, he said. Accusing the ruling party of only trying to divide his party, he said they had stolen the donation box from the Ram temple.
Published – 04 Oct 2026 20:48 IST