The leaders of Maharashtra’s opposition alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP (Sharad Pawar) supremo Sharad Pawar, and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat — joined hands with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray in a massive protest march in Mumbai on Saturday. The demonstration, titled ‘Satyacha Morcha’ (March for Truth), began at Fashion Street and concluded at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters. Thousands of supporters participated in the rally amid tight police security and traffic restrictions. The leaders alleged large-scale irregularities in voter lists across Maharashtra.
During the protest, Raj Thackeray accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of rushing into the civic elections without properly verifying the voter lists. He claimed to possess a list of over 4,500 voters registered in multiple constituencies, including Malabar Hill and Kalyan rural, who allegedly voted twice. Thackeray argued that lakhs of such duplicate entries exist across the state and questioned the ECI’s urgency to conduct elections despite clear discrepancies. Displaying bundles of voter list documents, he demanded an immediate cleanup of electoral rolls to ensure transparency and fairness in the democratic process.
Highlighting serious irregularities, Raj Thackeray revealed that some duplicate voters were even registered under the official address of the Pune municipal commissioner’s residence. He condemned this as an insult to genuine citizens who wait in queues to cast their votes. He urged authorities to thoroughly verify voter lists before every election and to identify and expose fake or duplicate voters at polling booths. Uddhav Thackeray, addressing the crowd, reiterated his “anaconda” analogy for the BJP and its allies, accusing them of stealing his party, its symbol, and his father Bal Thackeray’s legacy, while appealing to citizens to verify their voter details.
Uddhav Thackeray further cited shocking instances where fake voters were registered at the addresses of public toilets, urging Mumbaikars to check their own entries in the electoral roll immediately. He also revealed that a fraudulent mobile number was linked to his name and address in an apparent attempt to delete his family’s details from the voter list. Accusing the ruling government of “killing democracy” by tampering with election records, Thackeray urged citizens to respond through democratic means and expose those he termed “vote thieves.” The Opposition demanded that the civic polls be held only after all such irregularities are corrected.
In a show of solidarity, Raj Thackeray was seen traveling by local train to join the protest, encouraging MNS supporters to use public transport. Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a silent protest in Mumbai to counter the MVA’s claims. Wearing black tapes over their mouths, BJP leaders and workers gathered at Girgaon to accuse the MVA of spreading falsehoods ahead of elections. Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan said their protest aimed to expose the Opposition’s “fake narratives,” recalling similar misinformation campaigns allegedly run by the MVA before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections regarding constitutional amendments.