“Efforts to remove 5-10,000 voters from seats that supported MVA in LS poll” | Bombay News

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Friday alleged that the ruling alliance and the BJP, in particular, had conspired to remove around 5,000 to 10,000 names from the electoral roll in constituencies which voted in favor of the MVA during the Lok Sabha. polls earlier this year. MVA leaders also filed a complaint with Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam, claiming that Mahayuti leaders were misusing form seven, which is used to remove names from the electoral roll – on their own or other people – and urged him to take strict action against the erring party. workers and civil servants regardless of their affiliation.

“We have received complaints from our supporters that the ruling alliance is using form seven to remove the names of MVA supporters from the electoral roll,” state Congress president Nana Patole said during the a press conference with other MVA leaders. He cited the example of Chikhali assembly constituency in Buldhana, which is represented by the BJP, saying around 3,000 forms were submitted to remove the names of MVA supporters from the electoral roll.

“Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are particularly involved in this activity,” Patole claimed. He shared a video of Kiran Gadekar, the sarpanch of Telana village in Chikhali, who said that the names of MVA supporters were being removed from the electoral roll using form seven. “I challenge the BJP to organize free and fair elections without such conspiracies,” he said.

The state Congress president questioned the decision to send 50,000 ‘Yojana Doots’ to publicize the government’s plans, saying most of them were associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He also claimed that the police were helping the ruling parties.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, who also addressed the press conference, said the BJP-led ruling alliance had conspired to remove around 5,000 to 10,000 names from the electoral roll in the constituencies which voted in favor of the MVA in the Lok Sabha. elections. He showed the voter ID card of NCP (SP) worker Santosh Pawar and pointed out that although his name and other details were correct, the photo was of someone else. “The poll officials can use this to deny him the right to vote,” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai also raised the issue of misuse of form seven and said the Election Commission must ensure fairness in door-to-door voting for senior citizens and differently-abled people.

“Mumbai has around 4,500-6,000 senior citizens in each assembly constituency who vote from home. Voting for them should be done in a fair and transparent manner and without pressure from anyone,” Desai said.

After the press conference, a delegation of MVA leaders met Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam and urged him not to entertain requests for removal of names from the electoral roll using form seven. They demanded that the commission take strict action against officials and political cadres involved in the misuse of form seven, irrespective of their political affiliation.