NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar leaves Shivalaya Shiv Sena office after a meeting with Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A delegation of Opposition leaders on Tuesday met Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S. Chokkalingam to flag alleged irregularities in the election process, urging him to take “concrete actions” against malpractices ahead of the upcoming local body elections.
The delegation, comprising NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, submitted a memorandum to the CEO seeking action against alleged manipulation of voter data, vote tampering and irregularities in the voters’ list.
Attacking the Opposition, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has a habit of “levelling these allegations when the BJP wins. They themselves don’t know what they want and keep doubting the EC”.
‘Shared the evidence’
After the meeting, NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil said, “We shared the discrepancies that happened in the 2024 Assembly election with evidence and asked that the local body polls be held through ballot papers.”
He added, “The discussions will continue tomorrow with representatives of the State Election Commission and the Central Election Commission, as they sought time to respond to the queries raised.”
If the EC does not conduct the upcoming polls using paper ballots, the Opposition has sought the use of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails) for the upcoming polls. It also asked the EC to publish details of the excluded voters on its website ahead of the elections.
“We still believe that the EC is independent; however… the common man expects concrete action on the allegations,” read the memorandum. It added, “Why are the political parties or voters not able to see the list or details of the names that were excluded?”
Pointing out that fresh voters were added to the rolls between October 2024 and July 2025, the Opposition asked the poll body why it had not made the voters’ list public.
“Are there any political ulterior motives in hiding this list, or is there pressure from someone? If so, the Election Commission should clearly state this, and if the list is not to be published, then why make a farce of an election?” read the memorandum.
Saying that migrants from outside the State had registered as voters in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, and Nashik, the delegation also sought to know the steps the EC would take to deal with dual voter registrations.
‘No change in rolls’
In response, Maharashtra State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said the voters’ lists prepared during last year’s Assembly election “will be used as is” for the upcoming rural and urban body polls with a notified cut-off date of July 1, 2025.
While finalising ward-wise voter lists, entries from the Assembly segment lists will be retained, he noted. Mr. Waghmare added that electors can raise corrections for clerical errors or discrepancies.
Preparations are under way for elections in all 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, 246 municipal councils, 42 town councils, 32 zilla parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis across Maharashtra.
Published – October 15, 2025 04:24 am IST
