After Saturday’s protest rally in Mumbai demanding a clean-up of voter rolls, Opposition leaders in the state, including those from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, are set to take their battle to Delhi and knock on the doors of the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking answers on vote fraud.
On Tuesday, leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the MNS held a meeting to discuss issues to be raised at the meeting with the ECI later in the day. Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Anil Desai and Arvind Sawant, Congress’s Atul Londhe, and MNS legislator Bala Nandgaonkar are among the leaders who are in Delhi to meet ECI representatives.
Ahead of the local body elections, the Opposition in Maharashtra is collectively fighting against alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls. They have demanded the postponement of local body polls till the electoral rolls are revised and the issue of vote fraud is addressed.
The Opposition has argued that conducting the local body elections with voter lists allegedly consisting of ineligible persons and with duplication of names defeats the democratic purpose. It has asked the poll panel to take a relook at the electoral rolls.
While displaying a united front of Opposition parties in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray have put the ball in the ruling BJP’s court to ensure “free and fair” voting in the coming local body elections, including in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
By questioning the ECI on vote mismanagement, the Opposition was targeting the BJP, both at the Centre and in the state, over its electoral successes since 2014, especially the landslide mandate it received in the 2024 Assembly elections.
How will the Opposition’s protest impact Maharashtra politics?
To begin with, the Satyacha Morcha (Protest for truth) has proved that if political parties set aside their ideological differences, they can unite to fight against the alleged vote fraud. The Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Sena (UBT), MNS, Peasants and Workers Party of India, CPI(M), CPI, Samajwadi Party, etc, have all joined hands to take the fight with the EC to its logical end.
Secondly, the ambiguity on whether estranged Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, can work together has largely been put to rest. Despite several indications in the past few months that they are standing united, critics have wondered how the two will reconcile larger issues related to leadership, political power sharing, etc. Given the past bitterness that led Raj to part ways with the undivided Shiv Sena led by Bal Thackeray in 2005, many within the Opposition have been sceptical. It is no secret that Raj had often blamed Uddhav and team for his exit from the parent party.
Given their strong individuality and style of working, the Thackeray brothers’ decision to embrace each other is a significant milestone. And Saturday’s rally has shown that their unity is likely to sustain. It must be noted that Uddhav and Raj were the stars at the Opposition rally, almost reducing the Congress, NCP(SP) and others to the background.
At the rally, Raj Thackeray said that the morcha was organised “to show anger and strength,” while Uddhav stated, “We (Thackeray’s brothers) have come together for Marathi manoos. You have to stand with us.”
Nevertheless, given his experience and stature, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar has been the mainstay of the Opposition when it comes to getting all parties on board despite their differences.
It remains to be seen whether the protest rally can mobilise the masses to turn the tide against the ruling Mahayuti in the local body polls.
Challenges before the Opposition
The Opposition’s attempt to discredit the Centre and state for misusing independent authorities, including the EC, is not new. They have raised it several times during the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. Therefore, the biggest challenge before the Opposition is to fix the fault lines within their respective parties. At the protest rally, it was evident that the Thackerays and other Opposition leaders want the EC not to rush the elections until anomalies in the electoral rolls are fixed.
Unlike the BJP, which has undertaken a massive expansion spree to tap potential local candidates to consolidate its electoral base, Opposition parties have been grappling to build a base and hold on to it.
Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah exhorted BJP karyakartas to double their efforts in the local body polls. “The BJP should work hard not just to defeat, but completely wipe out the Opposition. Even with binoculars, they should not be visible,” he said.
Uddhav, who had earlier used the term “anaconda” to describe Shah’s politics as a force that swallows everything in its way, reiterated on Saturday that if left uncontested, the BJP would swallow Mumbai.
However, amid its allegations of voter fraud, the Opposition still fails to convincingly explain the MVA’s wins in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. While the Congress won 13 seats, the NCP(SP) bagged eight, and the Sena (UBT) won nine seats. Along with an Independent candidate, the alliance got a total of 31 seats, compared to the Mahayuti, where the BJP won nine seats, the Sena seven, and the NCP secured one seat. The state has a total of 48 seats in the Lok Sabha.
However, six months later, the Mahayuti sprung a surprise in the Assembly polls with a stellar performance, winning a total of 230 seats out of 288 as the BJP bagged 132 seats, the Shiv Sena won 57, and the NCP secured 41. Together they secured 230 seats out of 288, whereas the MVA was reduced to 46 seats – Congress (16), NCP(SP) (10) and Sena (UBT) (20).
Opposition’s narrative will boomerang: Bawankule
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, senior BJP leader and state Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “The Opposition cannot counter the Mahayuti on development issues. So, they are creating a false ‘vote chori’ issue to mislead the people. Such fake narratives will, however, boomerang.”
Earlier, he had said that while everybody has the right to take out a morcha in a democracy, the Opposition’s vote chori charges are baseless. “The Opposition is about to get defeated in the local body and BMC elections, so they are trying to find some pretext to blame it on the EC,” Bawankule had stated.
Opposition leaders in the state, including those from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, are set to take their battle to Delhi and knock on the doors of the ECI, seeking answers on vote fraud. (File Photo) 
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