Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was a "weapon" of the BJP, while Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray demanded the cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra.
The Thackeray cousins led the 'Virat Garjana Morcha' in Mumbai, a protest against the CEC and alleged irregularities in the ongoing SIR exercise. The march began at Metro Cinema and culminated in a rally near the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters.
The protest was attended by Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Wadettiwar, besides NCP (SP) leaders Jayant Patil, Shashikant Shinde, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh.
Raj Thackeray demanded that future elections be conducted using paper ballots and called for the SIR exercise in Maharashtra to be scrapped.
"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 asked.
"Gyanesh Kumar is a weapon of the BJP," the former Maharashtra chief minister alleged.
Thorat said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been raising allegations of "vote theft" and presenting evidence to support them.
"The BJP can do anything for power," Thorat said, alleging that changes to the process of appointing Election Commission members had paved the way for irregularities.
He accused the government of using various methods to gain power and described Gyanesh Kumar as a "symbol of this corrupt administration".
Thorat also described the period since 2014, when the Narendra Modi-led NDA came to power, as a "dark period" in the country's history. He called for efforts to "re-establish democracy and Constitution" and protect their dignity.
Party flags were not allowed during Sunday's march, with participants and supporters asked to carry only the Tricolour.
The protest came two days after the Cockroach Janta Party held a 'Jail Bharo Andolan' against Kumar at Mumbai's Shivaji Park.
(With inputs from PTI)
