Mumbai, Oct 15 (NationPress) On Wednesday, opposition parties came together to call for a halt to the upcoming elections for local and civic bodies until the Election Commission of India (ECI) addresses the inaccuracies present in the voters' list. The assembly of opposition leaders included former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, seasoned NCP (SP) figure Jayant Patil, senior Congress member Balasaheb Thorat, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray, and Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh. They met with the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S. Chickalingam and State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dinesh Waghmare to emphasize that local and civic body elections must be conducted in a manner that is free, fair, and transparent.

This meeting marked the second occasion for the opposition leaders after they had engaged with the officials separately the previous day.

During a press conference, Uddhav Thackeray asserted the necessity for elections to be just and not merely “selected”. He stated, “The poll body must acknowledge the existence of errors in the voters' list and postpone the elections until these inaccuracies are resolved. If VVPAT is not utilized, it signifies a potential loss of all evidence.”

Thackeray further noted, “The Maha Vikas Aghadi had submitted a letter to the ECI on October 19 last year, prior to the state Assembly elections, highlighting that certain BJP affiliates were tampering with the voters' list. Yet, no action was taken. The cutoff date for voter registration for local and civic body polls is July 1. Why shouldn’t those who turn 18 after this date be granted voting rights?”

Jayant Patil from NCP (SP) expressed concerns that if the voters' list from the state Assembly elections is employed for local and civic body elections, the scam will persist. “We demand a comprehensive investigation to eliminate fraudulent voters,” he stated.

Former Minister Balasaheb Thorat claimed that the voters’ list utilized in the Assembly elections has numerous issues that remain unaddressed. “The ECI should have corrected the list. How can we expect fair elections if the same flawed list is used?” he questioned.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray remarked on the ECI's role in conducting elections while political parties contest them. “If political parties are denied access to the voters' lists, it constitutes a scam. Show two lists for Mumbai before 2024 and after the Assembly elections, where some individuals are recorded as being over 100 years old. We insisted to the CEO and SEC that elections must not proceed until the errors in the voters' list are rectified. We also urged them to rescind the notification regarding the verification of the voters' list issued the prior day,” he added.

Jayant Patil reiterated, “Why is the ECI not providing a digital voters' list? Many issues could have been easily resolved. We manually identified these errors over the past two to three months. We await a response from the SEC, and once we receive it, we will share further details.”

Uddhav Thackeray posed the question, “Who is truly responsible for the voter list, the state or the Central Election Commission? Who should I approach first? Why are voters registered multiple times?”

He added, “State CEO S. Chokalingam claims we bear no responsibility, while the State Election Commission asserts the same. If elections are to be held with these errors, why proceed with them at all?”

Earlier, SEC Dinesh Waghmare responded to the opposition's concerns by stating, “We are using the previous voters' list. The cutoff date was established as July 1. Since we are relying on the same list, we do not have the authority to remove or alter names.”