Mumbai:
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday led a protest march in Mumbai against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Thackeray cousins began a march — dubbed the Virat Garjana Morcha (Grand Roar March) — from the Metro Cinema and traversed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai, with leaders of Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also joining them.
The two leaders alleged that elections have been compromised by Kumar, and demanded the cancellation of the SIR.
ठाकरेंचा मोर्चा, देशभर चर्चा! https://t.co/2l2W7lcPhs
— ShivSena – शिवसेना Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (@ShivSenaUBT_) October 4, 2026
गर्जना मोर्चा | लोकशाही आणि संविधान वाचवण्यासाठी | Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray | मुंबई महानगरपालिका मुख्यालय, मुंबई – #LIVE https://t.co/e85NaFP1LH
— ShivSena – शिवसेना Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (@ShivSenaUBT_) October 4, 2026
“The SIR process in Maharashtra must be completely scrapped. Voting through EVMs (electronic voting machines) in the country should be stopped, and we should go back to voting through ballot papers,” Raj Thackeray told thousands of supporters.
“I have been saying since 2017-18 that there is something wrong here. The number of votes cannot suddenly decrease,” he said, referring to the deletion of voters after the SIR.
“Our anger is about how this government is being run and through what means it is being run. The Election Commission will not decide who should be in power the people will decide,” he added.
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Uddhav Thackeray said that Kumar has “snatched away” the voting rights.
“If the purpose of the SIR exercise was to remove Bangladeshis from voters’ list, how many Bangladeshis did you find,” he asked.
The morcha comes two days after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the Gen-Z youth protest movement whose sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against the NEET paper leak led to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July, held a ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ against the Chief Election Commissioner at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.
2 Crore Voters Excluded From Maharashtra’s Draft Electoral Roll
More than 2.06 crore electors, accounting for 21.14 per cent of Maharashtra’s previous voter base, have not figured in the draft electoral roll following the SIR.
Before the SIR, Maharashtra had 9.78 crore voters, of whom, 78.86 per cent made it to the draft roll.
According to the data released in August, the draft roll currently has more than 7.71 crore voters (78.86 per cent of the previous electorate), comprising 3.95 crore men, 3.75 crore women, and 3,087 third-gender voters.
READ | Maharashtra Poll Officer Demands More Powers For Local Staff In SIR
As many as 2,06,88,487 people have not been included, as their enumeration forms were uncollectable because they were either untraceable, dead, or had shifted residences, officials said.
Pune recorded the highest number of uncollectable enumeration forms at 28.6 lakh, followed by Thane with 28.5 lakh, Mumbai Suburban with 26.5 lakh, Nagpur (14.43 lakh), Nashik (10.27 lakh) and Mumbai City (9.5 lakh), officials said.
Eligible voters whose names were missing from the draft roll could file claims and objections till September 30. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 4.
