Mumbai, Oct 14 (NationPress) The opposition factions in Maharashtra on Tuesday inquired with the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S. Chocklingam why a special intensive revision (SIR) was executed in Bihar prior to the state Assembly elections, yet it cannot be implemented in Maharashtra ahead of the forthcoming local and civic body elections.

The opposition representatives, which included NCP-SP Chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena-UBT Chief Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, veteran Congress figure Balasaheb Thorat, and senior NCP-SP legislator Jayant Patil, along with Ajit Nawale and Subhash Lande from the Left parties and Rais Shaikh from the Samajwadi Party, convened with the state CEO to insist on ensuring free and fair elections for the local and civic body elections.

They also questioned the reason behind the postponement of SIR in the state, citing local and civic body elections as the rationale.

The discussion brought up various issues, including double voter registration, the absence of VVPATs, lack of transparency, and the conduct of elections using ballot papers.

Another group of opposition leaders had an audience with State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dinesh Waghmare.

"The Opposition has raised concerns on why SIR was not enacted in Maharashtra before the local body elections when it was implemented in Bihar for Assembly elections. They also urged the Commission to consider the utilization of VVPATs in Mumbai elections, given the absence of a ward system. Without VVPATs, we demand that elections in Mumbai be conducted using ballot papers," stated the opposition leaders in a letter.

The correspondence also expressed skepticism regarding the State Election Commission's choice to refrain from employing VVPATs in local body elections across Maharashtra.

SEC Waghmare has already confirmed that VVPATs will not be utilized in the upcoming local body polls.

"We have invested over thousands of crores in these VVPATs. What is the purpose if they are not going to be used? The public lacks trust in EVMs, and the only means of validating their vote is through VVPATs, which are now being disregarded," the letter stated.

Sources within the SEC indicated that due to the multi-ward structure in local bodies, aside from Mumbai, the use of VVPATs is nearly unfeasible.

Former Minister and NCP-SP leader Jayant Patil stated, "The opposition parties raised numerous issues regarding the voters' list during a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer. We have requested that our points be addressed collectively by the State Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer, who represents the Election Commission of India. Our demand is to rectify the voters' list before the local body elections. We presented several instances, such as a son being older than his father and over a hundred individuals residing in a single room."

The letter submitted by the Opposition highlighted six critical points.

It accused the Election Commission of failing to disclose the list of voters whose names were added or removed in the updated voters' list intended for the local body elections.

Highlighting that numerous voters from various states reside in urban regions of the state, the letter noted that many have registered their names in both their home state and in Maharashtra.

"This is a violation. The Election Commission is responsible for preventing this. What measures are being taken by the Election Commission to address this? If the Election Commission conducted a special campaign to eliminate double registrations in Bihar before the Assembly elections, why is there no similar initiative in Maharashtra for the local body elections?" the opposition parties queried.

Following the meeting, Shiv Sena-UBT leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut mentioned, "Two of our delegations met at two venues. One was with the Chief Electoral Officer, and the other was with the State Election Commission. The meeting with the CEO was incomplete, as there will be another meeting tomorrow (Wednesday). A joint meeting of the CEO and the State Election Commission with the opposition parties is scheduled. We will provide a media briefing after that meeting."