MUMBAI: Opposition delegations led by former union minister Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat met the Maharashtra state election commissioner on Tuesday and echoed the allegation of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s vote chori and raised six pertinent questions.
The delegation also asked the election commission to provide the voters verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) along with an electronic voting machine (EVM). If the election commission is unable to do that, then Asia’s richest civic body election should be conducted through ballot papers.
Opposition delegation met Maharashtra state chief election commissioner S Choklingam at Mantralaya and put forth the six prominent demands and highlighting that the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised the vote chori issue as well. It stated that it is the duty of the election commission to reinstall the trust and faith of the people in the election process and should not succumb to any pressure.
The demands read out that between the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra state assembly election in the year 2024, several voters' names were added and deleted as well. The list of these new voters should be provided to the Opposition, and it should also be uploaded on the state election commission website. It is the right of the citizens to know this basic information.
The second demand of the delegation was after the Maharashtra state election, the voter list was published and it was updated in July 2025. This updated list should be provided to every political front that demands it. Why is this list not given even after several demands? What is hidden in this list that the Election Commission wants to keep as a secret?
The third demand is that the state election commission announced that for the local body election, the July 2025 voters list will be considered, but what about those who complete 18 years old after that date? Why should these new eligible voters, the youth should wait for the next five years to get registered as voters? The vote registrations should be an ongoing, continuous process, and no one should be denied or deprived of exercising their voting rights in a democratic setup.
The fourth demand by the Election Commission raised the duplicate voter registration and voting. It stated that in the Mumbai metropolitan region, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan, and extended suburbs, several migrants are registered voters and at the same time, they are also voters back in their respective states. Such kind of voters exercise their voting rights twice, which is illegal as per law; therefore Election Commission in Bihar should start the D registration and deregister these voters.
The delegation’s fifth demand was, the Election Commission declared that the VVPAT would not be used for municipal corporation elections because of citing reason that they do not have enough EVMS that connect to VVPAT. The election was delayed for more than four years, so why did the election commission not prepare in the last four months to address these shortcomings? Then, the people will trust the voting process if it has shortcomings.
The sixth demand, which includes the Election Commission, said that in multiple wards in corporation elections, the VVPAT cannot be used. If this is the case, the BMC and other municipal corporation elections should be conducted by using the paper ballot, not the EVM.
