Opposition leaders meet Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer, urge concrete action on ‘irregularities’

A delegation of Opposition leaders on Tuesday met Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S. Chokkalingam to flag alleged irregularities in the election process, urging him to take “concrete actions” against malpractices ahead of the upcoming local body elections.

The delegation, comprising NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, submitted a memorandum to the CEO seeking action against alleged manipulation of voter data, vote tampering and irregularities in the voters’ list.

Attacking the Opposition, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has a habit of “levelling these allegations when the BJP wins. They themselves don’t know what they want and keep doubting the EC”.

‘Shared the evidence’

After the meeting, NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil said, “We shared the discrepancies that happened in the 2024 Assembly election with evidence and asked that the local body polls be held through ballot papers.”