Maharashtra: Raj Thackeray joins MVA leaders to grill state election commission over municipal election concerns

A delegation of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leaders on Tuesday met state Chief Election Officer S. Chockalingam and his deputy Dinesh Waghmare and raised six questions, including why political parties have had no access to the electoral rolls prepared for the upcoming municipal and zilla parishad elections.

The delegation comprised Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, among others. For the first time, the MVA delegation was joined by MNS chief Raj Thackeray, leading to speculations about whether Raj and his party were planning to join MVA ahead of municipal elections in the state.

​Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said they had invited even Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to be part of the delegation so that it could become an all-party delegation demanding free and fair municipal and ZP polls in Maharashtra.

The delegation demanded that municipal elections should be conducted using ballot papers if the Election Commission was unable to provide VVPAT details along with EVMs.

The delegation also demanded that people and political parties must know the list of names that have been omitted and for what reason. They also said the list of newly registered voters after last year's assembly elections must be made available to political parties. 

The delegation felt that July 1, 2025, should not be a cut-off date for inclusion in the voter list. The EC office said those who have completed 18 years on July 1, 2025, will be eligible to vote in the municipal elections. The delegation demanded that all those who have completed 18 years before the date of actual voting should be allowed to vote.

The delegation also wanted the EC office to de-register second-time voters. The MVA parties felt that cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik get workers from outside the state in large numbers. These workers are registered as voters in their home states as well as cities where they work in Maharashtra. This double registration should be avoided as voting in different states is not permitted.

India