Oppn holds 'Satyacha Morcha' in Maharashtra; Uddhav, Raj and Sharad Pawar slam EC over voters list

Mumbai: The Opposition parties staged a mammoth morcha in Mumbai on Saturday with Thackeray cousins, Raj and Uddhav, leading the charge against the BJP and the Election Commission demanding cleaning up of voters list in the run up to the Maharashtra local bodies elections - the second issue that the brothers highlighted in Mumbai after joining hands on the issue of Marathi-pride.

With Saturday’s bonhomie between Uddhav, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and Raj, the MNS founder-president and the body language of their sons Aaditya and Amit, it became almost clear that the two parties would join hands for the municipal polls in Mumbai and other places.

NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, his daughter and party’s working president Supriya Sule, MLAs and former ministers Jayant Patil, Anil Deshmukh and Dr Jitendra Awhad and top Congress leaders including CWC member Balasaheb Thorat, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar, state Congress working President Naseem Khan, Bhai Jagtap, Satej Patil, Sachin Sawant, PWP president Jayant Patil were present besides other leaders of the opposition grouping Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The Satyacha Morcha, the march for truth, started from the Fashion Street and culminated at the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters off the Azad Maidan.

The Thackeray cousins slammed the Election Commission and demanded that elections should not be held till the voters list are cleaned up.

Raj, who is not formally part of the MVA, rubbed shoulders with the opposition ranks and files - though at one point of time he was considered close to the BJP and an admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“…yes…we have come together for Marathi manoos, yes…we have come together for Hindutva…and at this time we need your support,” Uddhav said.

Besides, Uddhav once again used the analogy of “anaconda” for the BJP and urged people to check the voters list carefully. “We have found cases where voters were registered at the address of a public toilet. Imagine how many fake voters might be registered at your own address,” he said referring to the Navi Mumbai incident.

For former chief minister also cited an instance where a fake mobile number was registered for verification, using his name and address.

Raj accused the election machinery of trying to hold the civic polls in haste without clearing the voters list, citing instances of double voting in several constituencies.

“I have a list of 4,500 voters who voted in Malabar Hill constituency and they stay in Kalyan Aural, Dombivali, Bhiwandi and Murbad constituencies. So it is clear that they voted twice. It is clear that there are lakhs of such voters in Maharashtra who have done double voting," he said.

He said the updated voter list till July 2025 showed registration of double voters and asked why there was such a hurry on the Election Commission’s part to conduct the BMC elections if there were so many errors in the list.

Thackeray also displayed a large pile of documents containing the voter lists with duplicate names, asserting the need to clean up the voter lists and make the democratic process more transparent.

“There are cases where several voters were registered at the address of the Pune municipal commissioner’s residence. Isn’t this an insult to voters who stand in long queues to cast their vote?" he asked.

“Whenever elections are held, work on the voter lists. Every face must be recognized. If any duplicate or fake voters appear, confront them on the spot — expose them right there — and hand them over to the police," he added.

BJP oppose through parallel silent protest

The Maharashtra BJP launched a muk-morcha, a silent protest, at Girgaon Chowpatty to counter the opposition parties' protest. The protest was led by Maharashtra BJP chief Ravindra Chavan. The protest was joined by cabinet ministers Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Ashish Shelar and Mumbai BJP chief Amit Satam. The BJP alleged that the MVA has double standards, as a result, they are protesting against the MVA. Chavan said that the opposition parties have been making efforts to destabilise the constitutional institutions.