Oppn's demand on SSR of voters list conveyed to ECI: Maharashtra poll official

Mumbai, Oct 16 (PTI) The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Office on Thursday conveyed to the Election Commission of India a demand by opposition leaders for a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls before conducting local body polls.

An official at the state Chief Electoral Office confirmed that the opposition's demand regarding SSR has been conveyed to the Election Commission of India, which will now take a decision on it.

On Wednesday, a delegation comprising Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray, NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil and Congress veteran Balasaheb Thorat met State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare and Chief Electoral Officer Chockalingam.

Alleging that existing lists were "highly compromised and manipulated", these leaders demanded that civic or local body elections should not be held until the electoral rolls were "fully rectified".

Addressing a joint press conference on Wednesday, the opposition leaders accused the ruling parties of attempting to normalise irregularities in the voter rolls.

Uddhav Thackeray said the poll body must either ensure a fair electoral process or simply "select a few candidates and finish the procedure". He added that polls held based on faulty rolls would undermine democratic integrity.

Thackeray said the Maha Vikas Aghadi had written to the EC on October 19 last year, ahead of the Assembly elections, pointing to alleged interference by BJP workers in electoral data management.

"Except the BJP, all major parties have raised concerns. We submitted the same proofs again," Thackeray said while questioning the refusal to use VVPATs in the Mumbai civic elections and the secrecy around CCTV footage monitoring the polling process.

Raj Thackeray remarked that waiting a few more months to clean up the electoral database would not destabilise democracy. Civic polls in the state have been due since early 2022.

"We are not seeking the cancellation of elections, but the correction of voter lists. Democracy cannot run on manipulated rolls," the MNS chief said.

NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil claimed the irregularities were systemic and not clerical errors.

He cited specific figures to allege that hundreds of voters in different regions had either incomplete addresses or no address at all on their EPIC records.

According to him, 400 voters in Murbad had only a dash in place of residential address, while 450 voters in Badnera had a zero before their address and 867 names in Kamptee were listed without any address.

He also referred to the case of a voter named Sushma Gupta, whose name allegedly appeared under six EPIC numbers in Nalasopara before all entries were removed following media attention.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday criticised the opposition's move, calling the MVA a confused alliance.

He described the meetings with poll officials as an attempt to build a narrative before elections and accused the alliance of attacking constitutional institutions instead of preparing to face the electorate.

Shiv Sena leaders from the ruling camp also dismissed the opposition's allegations as politically motivated.

Local body elections in Maharashtra are expected within the next two months or early next year, though no final schedule has been announced. PTI ND BNM