EC must act on voters' list irregularities, says Maharashtra Congress

Mumbai, Nov 4 (PTI) The Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday said the Election Commission should take immediate cognisance of the demand of the Opposition parties to rectify "irregularities" in the voters' lists ahead of the local body polls, citing that leaders from the ruling dispensation had made similar claims.

Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant said political parties are an essential part of democracy, and the electoral process is incomplete without them.

"When all Opposition parties are together demanding a clean and error-free electoral roll, it is the EC's duty to act. Now, even ruling party leaders, including the chief minister and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, have said that the voters' list must be cancelled. If the ruling party is saying the same thing, what's the problem now?" Sawant wrote in a post on X.

Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar on Monday accused Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS head Raj Thackeray of engaging in appeasement politics and conspiring to pressure government staff ahead of the local body polls in the state.

He charged that the Opposition was attempting to create a "fake narrative," with its claim about the voters' list, alleging that multiple entries of people from the Muslim community and other minority groups were ignored, but they (the Thackeray cousins) only talk about Hindus, Dalits, and Marathi people.

Referring to BJP leaders' statements, Sawant said, "Earlier, Anurag Thakur had exposed the BJP, and now Ashish Shelar has admitted to vote theft, again exposing his own party. Will the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra now ask Shelar to file an affidavit?" He further claimed that the BJP is being branded as "vote thieves" across the country.

"The so-called superpower that attacks the Constitution is being challenged and exposed by none other than Rahul Gandhi. Lies cannot sustain for long — BJP leaders should rather worry about their future," Sawant said in his post. PTI MR ARU