NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar leaves Shivalaya Shiv Sena workplace after a gathering with Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam in Mumbai. | Photo Credit: PTI
The delegation, comprising NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and senior Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, submitted a memorandum to the CEO looking for motion in opposition to alleged manipulation of voter information, vote tampering and irregularities within the voters’ checklist.
Attacking the Opposition, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde mentioned the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has a behavior of “levelling these allegations when the BJP wins. They themselves don’t know what they need and preserve doubting the EC”.
‘Shared the proof’
After the assembly, NCP (SP) chief Jayant Patil mentioned, “We shared the discrepancies that occurred within the 2024 Assembly election with proof and requested that the native physique polls be held by way of poll papers.”
He added, “The discussions will proceed tomorrow with representatives of the State Election Commission and the Central Election Commission, as they sought time to answer the queries raised.”
If the EC doesn’t conduct the upcoming polls utilizing paper ballots, the Opposition has sought the usage of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails) for the upcoming polls. It additionally requested the EC to publish particulars of the excluded voters on its web site forward of the elections.
“We nonetheless consider that the EC is impartial; nevertheless… the frequent man expects concrete motion on the allegations,” learn the memorandum. It added, “Why are the political events or voters not in a position to see the checklist or particulars of the names that have been excluded?”
Pointing out that recent voters have been added to the rolls between October 2024 and July 2025, the Opposition requested the ballot physique why it had not made the voters’ checklist public.
“Are there any political ulterior motives in hiding this checklist, or is there strain from somebody? If so, the Election Commission ought to clearly state this, and if the checklist is to not be revealed, then why make a farce of an election?” learn the memorandum.
Saying that migrants from outdoors the State had registered as voters in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, and Nashik, the delegation additionally sought to know the steps the EC would take to take care of twin voter registrations.
‘No change in rolls’
In response, Maharashtra State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare mentioned the voters’ lists ready throughout final yr’s Assembly election “will likely be used as is” for the upcoming rural and concrete physique polls with a notified closing date of July 1, 2025.
While finalising ward-wise voter lists, entries from the Assembly section lists will likely be retained, he famous. Mr. Waghmare added that electors can increase corrections for clerical errors or discrepancies.
Preparations are underneath method for elections in all 29 municipal companies, together with Mumbai, 246 municipal councils, 42 city councils, 32 zilla parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis throughout Maharashtra.
Published – October 15, 2025 04:24 am IST
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