Uddhav and Raj Thackeray led the Virat Garjana Morcha in Mumbai, demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged SIR irregularities.
Congress and NCP (SP) leaders joined the march; organisers asked participants to carry the Tricolour instead of party flags.
The protest adds to Opposition criticism of the Election Commission, which has defended SIR as voter-list verification.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) boss Raj Thackeray on Sunday led a protest march in Mumbai against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
State leaders of Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also participated in the morcha which began from the Metro Cinema and will traverse the short distance to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai.
Participants of the morcha, dubbed the Virat Garjana Morcha (Grand Roar March), demanded the removal/resignation of the CEC over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
A Thackeray Reunion On Mumbai’s Streets
Party flags were not allowed in the march. The participants and supporters were asked to carry only the national tricolour.
The morcha comes two days after the Cockroach Janta Party held a ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ against the Chief Election Commissioner, at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.
Why The Thackerays Are Targeting The Poll Panel
The protest centres on the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a nationwide exercise that has drawn criticism from Opposition parties over the scale and manner of voter verification.
Critics have alleged that the process could lead to eligible voters being excluded from electoral rolls, while the Election Commission has maintained that the exercise is intended to clean and update the rolls and has taken steps to facilitate the inclusion of eligible voters.
The demand comes amid wider Opposition criticism of the poll panel and questions over reported differences among the Election Commissioners.
On October 2, thousands participated in protests in Mumbai and Delhi, with demonstrators demanding Kumar’s resignation and raising concerns about the electoral-roll revision. The Election Commission, however, has rejected allegations of political manipulation and defended the process as part of its mandate to verify and update voter lists.
A Joint Front With A Larger Political Message
For Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, the march carries significance beyond the immediate dispute with the Election Commission. The cousins, whose political organisations have remained separate since Raj broke away from the Shiv Sena to form the MNS, are appearing together on an issue they say affects voters across party lines. The decision to keep party flags out and ask participants to carry only the Tricolour is intended to underline that broader positioning.
For the Thackerays, however, Sunday’s march is also an exercise in political symbolism: two cousins who have spent years on separate political paths now sharing a stage and a street, with the Election Commission — rather than their differences — providing the common ground.
