Callousness of Election Commission: Maharashtra Protests
S K Rege
ON November 1, 2025, tens of thousands of activists from parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA – INDIA Bloc), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Left parties of Maharashtra participated with great fervour in a massive joint public procession and public meeting to protest against the callous attitude of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State Election Commission (SEC) in rectifying the electoral rolls before holding elections in the state for various local self-government bodies.
Participants coming from all parts of Maharashtra, but mainly from Mumbai, covered a distance of half a kilometer from Fashion Street to Mahapalika Marg in South Mumbai. The joint procession converged into a joint public meeting on Mahapalika Marg, stretching from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Railway Terminus to the Metro Theatre. The traffic in front of the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation came to a standstill.
A thousand strong contingent of activists of Left parties, mainly from the CPI(M), was led by State Secretary and Central Committee Member, Dr. Ajit Nawale, and State Secretariat members Shailendra Kamble, S. K. Rege, Sunil Malusare and Vijay Gabhane. Women activists from all parties also participated in large numbers in this protest programme called "Satyacha Morcha Aani Sabha" – Programme for Asserting Truth.
The massive joint public meeting was addressed by Sharad Pawar of NCP (SP), Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT), Balasaheb Thorat of INC, and Raj Thackeray of MNS. State Secretaries Dr Ajit Nawale, Subhash Lande and Jayant Patil of the CPI(M), CPI and PWP respectively graced the dais in the front row. Milind Ranade, Mumbai Secretary of CPI, briefly greeted the participants on behalf of the Left parties.
All the main speakers at the public meeting unanimously lambasted the callous attitude and persistent refusal of officials of the Central and State Election Commissions to rectify the electoral rolls for elections of various local self-government bodies, although these parties had submitted a detailed memorandum a fortnight ago listing various anomalies in the electoral rolls.
On October 13 and 14, a delegation of leaders from these parties had met the Maharashtra State Election Commissioner (SEC) Shri Dinesh Waghmare and the Central Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Maharashtra, Shri S. Chokkalingam in Mumbai. Leaders from all these parties had emphasised the need for transparent governance and autonomous functioning of the Election Commissions.
The joint memorandum submitted by these parties pointed out the non-availability of the revised electoral lists after the assembly elections in November 2024, because of which political parties and common voters could not verify whether names of voters had been added or deleted without assigning any reason. The memorandum questioned the inexplicable cut-off date of July 1, 2025 for eligible voters in the upcoming elections, double registration of voters in multiple constituencies, registration of hundreds of voters on a single address, registration of absentee voters on incomplete and erroneous addresses, the incomprehensible delay in declaring polling statistics on polling day and non-provision of VVPAT in upcoming elections among many others, resulting in a complete mess in the electoral rolls. The leaders demanded that elections be conducted on ballot papers in the absence of VVPAT compatible EVMs. Ajit Nawale signed the joint memorandum on behalf of the CPI(M) and participated in the joint parleys with officials of the Election Commissions on both days.
