Police file case against Uddhav and Raj Thackeray after joint protest

The joint march toward the BMC headquarters saw the leaders of Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS unite to denounce the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Uddhav Thackeray accused the Home Ministry of orchestrating an assault on democratic rights through Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that 13 crore voters have been systematically purged from national rolls. He framed the demonstration as a direct challenge to what he termed a dictatorial regime.

Raj Thackeray shifted the focus to local impacts, demanding a total cancellation of the SIR exercise in Maharashtra. He claimed that the process is being weaponized to disenfranchise two crore citizens while questioning the integrity of the recent assembly elections. Beyond the roll revisions, he issued a broader call for the abandonment of electronic voting machines in favor of traditional paper ballots. While the Election Commission maintains that the revision is a standard administrative procedure for cleaning voter data, the opposition leaders remain steadfast, urging a national coalition to pressure authorities in Delhi for a full audit of the current system.