Uddhav calls CEC 'weapon' of BJP; Raj demands cancellation of SIR in Maharashtra

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was a "weapon" of the ruling BJP, while MNS president Raj Thackeray demanded cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra.

The Thackeray cousins led a protest march in Mumbai against the CEC, with the procession culminating in a rally near the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai.

Raj Thackeray also demanded that future elections in the country be conducted through paper ballots.

Questioning the purpose of the SIR exercise, Uddhav asked whether the government had identified any illegal Bangladeshi immigrants through the revision of electoral rolls.

"If the SIR was conducted to weed out Bangladeshis from the voters' list, then how many Bangladeshis residing illegally in the country did the government find?" he asked.

"Gyanesh Kumar is a weapon of the BJP," Uddhav alleged.

Raj, meanwhile, demanded that the SIR process be cancelled in Maharashtra.

Leaders of the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) also participated in the protest march, which began at Metro Cinema and covered the short distance to the BMC headquarters.

Dubbed the "Virat Garjana Morcha" or Grand Roar March, the protestors demanded the removal or resignation of the CEC over alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.

Party flags were not permitted during the march, with participants and supporters asked to carry only the national tricolour.

The protest came two days after the Cockroach Janta Party organised a "Jail Bharo Andolan" against the CEC at Mumbai's Shivaji Park.