"Our right to have a democratic govt": Prithviraj Chavan rejects Raj Thackeray’s call to boycott elections

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday opposed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's statement on boycotting elections, saying participating in elections was a democratic right.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday opposed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's statement on boycotting elections, saying participating in elections was a democratic right. "I do not accept that we should boycott the election. It is our right to a democratic government; that is not a correct strategy," Chavan said.

Recalling his experience during the 2024 election, Chavan said he had protested over what he alleged were instances of duplicate voters being added to electoral rolls and voting multiple times. "When my election took place in 2024, I protested, saying in my case duplicate voters were added who voted multiple times," he said.

Chavan further alleged that in some places minority voters and poor people were deprived of their voting rights, while those who favoured the Congress party were also affected. "In some places, minority voters were deprived of voting rights; in some places, poor people were deprived of voting rights; those who favoured the Congress party," he said.

"This is not vote chori; it is election chori," Chavan alleged. Earlier today, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and raised questions over the poll panel's functioning.

The two leaders led a joint protest march toward the BMC headquarters against Gyanesh Kumar. Opposition parties have been demanding his resignation. Raj Thackeray called for cancellation of the SIR exercise in Maharashtra.

"Our demand is that the entire SIR conducted in Maharashtra should be cancelled," he said. He questioned the circumstances under which the revision exercise was undertaken."The law says that SIR is conducted if an emergency situation arises," he said.

Raj Thackeray also alleged that a large number of voters were added during the Maharashtra Assembly elections and claimed that two crore voters were now being removed through SIR. "Forty to sixty lakh voters were added during the Assembly elections, and power was captured through this. And now, through SIR, two crore people are being removed. Who are these two crore voters?" he asked.

"I appeal to all political parties to go to Delhi and demand that the SIR should be cancelled. Voting machines should be discontinued, and elections should be conducted using ballot papers," he said. Uddhav Thackeray said the protest was aimed at opposing what he described as an attack on voters' rights and democracy.

"We are standing here today to overthrow the dictator," he said. He claimed that names of "13 crore people" had been deleted from electoral rolls across the country and alleged that voters had also been excluded in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. "I have a question over the process of appointment of the Election Commissioners.”He criticised the removal of the Chief Justice of India from the committee involved in the appointment process and questioned the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner.

"The first question is how was Gyanesh Kumar appointed?" Thackeray asked. (ANI)