Opp to confront state EC head on vote chori, voter list defects

Opposition leaders in Maharashtra will meet Chief Electoral Officer S Chokalingam on October 14 to address alleged voter list anomalies and related issues.

MUMBAI: Top opposition leaders of the state are set to meet S Chokalingam, Maharashtra’s chief electoral officer, on October 14 to bring up the issue of alleged anomalies in the voters’ lists in several elections. “We want answers to many issues related to the electoral rolls such as deletion and duplication of voters’ names,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut. “Many other problems faced at the national level will also be discussed with Chokalingam.”

Opp to confront state EC head on vote chori, voter list defects

Raut said that apart from Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, the other leaders were NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, state Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray, state SP chief Abu Asim Azmi, Ajit Navale of the All India Kisan Sabha, and Prakash Reddy and Subhash Lande of the CPI. He admitted that the meeting would not amount to action being taken but said that it was necessary to meet the EC’s state officials. “Yet, we have questions for the EC,” he said. “They won’t do anything but some mysteries have to be unravelled.”

Raut said the opposition was even planning to ask ruling party leaders to join since this was not a political meeting. “Everyone has issues with the EC,” he said. “We are also calling CM Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CMs Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde to join us. Leaders like Nitin Gadkari have complained that 300,000 names were deleted from his constituency. Raj Thackeray is not in the MVA alliance but he is still coming along. Getting issues resolved with the EC is like banging your head on a wall, but we are still meeting Chokalingam to put forth our grievances.”

EC officials confirmed that the MVA had sought time, and Chokalingam would be meeting them.