SHIV Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of acting as a “weapon” for the ruling BJP, even as MNS leader Raj Thackeray demanded cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Maharashtra’s electoral rolls. Thousands of people joined the protest march led by the Thackeray cousins in Mumbai against the CEC, which culminated in a rally.

 

Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Wadettiwar as well as Jayant Patil, Shashikant Shinde, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) participated in the rally. The march began from the Metro Cinema and traversed the shortdistance to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai. Backing the protesters, Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, who held a ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ against the CEC in Mumbai on Friday, said the city is out on the streets again for free and fair elections. He called for all Indians to come together, saying “it’s now or never”.