Names of voters leaning towards MVA being removed from electoral rolls, claim Oppn leaders

Mumbai: Leaders from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Friday alleged that names of voters leaning towards the opposition parties were being removed from the electoral rolls for the upcoming Maharashtra elections.

Addressing a news conference, leaders of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) claimed there is no transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission (ECI), and its officers are working under pressure from the ruling parties.

They said the MVA would raise the issue with the ECI.

Assembly polls in the state will be held on November 20, and votes will be counted on November 23.

The leaders, especially Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, demanded the removal of state Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla to ensure free and fair polls.

Patole alleged that the ECI's form no 7, meant to delete names from the voters list for different reasons, is being used to remove the names of voters leaning towards the opposition parties, and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were behind the exercise.

"Names of voters leaning towards the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) are being removed from the voters list. This is being done because the BJP is losing polls," Patole said.

The leader of the opposition in the assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, said that the ECI should not accept form no 7.

"We have observed that seats where the MVA received a lead in the Lok Sabha elections have seen deletion of 2,500 to 10,000 voters," the Congress leader said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and leader of opposition the council Ambadas Danve claimed that names of 6,000 voters were missing from the list in the Nashik Central assembly seat, and no cognisance was taken about this despite raising the issue with the collector.

He claimed that in Aurangabad Central and Sillod seats, represented by the ruling parties, nearly 27,000 voters were added to the electoral rolls.

NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad demanded that the ECI publish a white paper on the voters list.

He said the print of the voters' list is so bad that it cannot be read and claimed that even the names, addresses, and photos were wrong.

"The way the election is being conducted is suspicious. It is shameful," Awhad added.

Patole further demanded that the commission cancel the appointment of 50,000 "yojana doots" appointed to promote the government's welfare programmes, who are being paid Rs 50,000.

He alleged that the "yojana doots" are private individuals and they belong to the RSS and BJP.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai said booth-level officers of political parties should accompany poll officials going to the homes of voters above the age of 85 and physically challenged individuals so that they can exercise their franchise.

He said that on average, there are 4,500 such voters in suburban Mumbai and 6,400 in the city.