In the backdrop of the upcoming municipal, district council, and panchayat elections in the state, opposition parties have directly questioned the functioning of the Election Commission. A delegation led by Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, and Raj Thackeray met with the commission to criticize errors in the voter list, duplicate registrations, the absence of VVPAT, and allegations of concealing information. Notably, Raj Thackeray's presence at the Mahavikas Aghadi meeting has become a topic of political discussion. Raising doubts about the commission's transparency, the opposition read out a list of six points and questioned, "Is this an election or a farce?"
Let's see what is written in the letter..
Joint statement of the all-party delegation, 13 October, 2025
To, Hon. Mr. S. Chokalingam, Chief Election Officer, Maharashtra State regarding increasing transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission and addressing its shortcomings.
With regards, Jai Maharashtra,
In the coming months, local self-government elections are going to be held in Maharashtra. However, since the general assembly elections held in 2024 and overall about the functioning of the Election Commission, there are many doubts in the minds of political parties as well as the common man. We all believe that the Election Commission is an autonomous body, but looking at the current overall functioning of the Election Commission, there is a doubt whether the Election Commission is truly autonomous. Anyway, we believe that the Election Commission is still autonomous and therefore there are some questions in the minds of the entire political system and the common people, and some concrete actions are also expected on them.
1) In 2024, general elections for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Legislative Assembly were held. During both these elections, there was a large-scale registration of new voters and also removal of names... but why is the list or details of the removed names not available to political parties or voters? Shouldn't the reasons for the removal of a person's name be known to them or the political system? Therefore, the Election Commission must make the complete details of the names they have removed available on their website. Because it is the right of every voter.
2) The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly general elections were held in 2024, and the voter list during that time was published on October 30, 2024. However, the names that were included in the list between October 2024 and July 2025, why have those names and the new list not been published yet? Studying the voter list is the right of every political party, but why is it that even political parties or, we say, even the common man cannot see the voter list? Are there any hidden political motives in concealing this list, or is there some pressure from someone? If so, the Election Commission should clarify, and if the list is not to be published, then why conduct the farce of elections?
3) The Election Commission announced that the upcoming local self-government elections will be based on the voter list as of July 1, 2025. Does this mean those who turn 18 after July 2025 will have to wait 5 more years to exercise their right to vote? Every voter who turns 18 by the time the election is announced should be granted the right to vote.
4) In Maharashtra, there is a large influx of people coming from other states for work in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, and Nashik. Many of these voters are registered in their home states and also register themselves as voters here in Maharashtra. Fundamentally, registering as a voter in two places and voting is a crime by law. However, the responsibility to prevent dual registration certainly lies with the Election Commission. But what exactly is the Election Commission doing to remove such dual registrations? If a special campaign was conducted by the Election Commission in Bihar to remove dual registrations, then why is such an effort not visible in Maharashtra before the local self-government elections? The 'de-duplication' method should be used to remove dual registrations. 5) The Election Commission has stated that VVPAT will not be used for municipal elections, why? The Election Commission claims that they do not have enough EVMs required to connect with VVPATs. Originally, these local self-government elections, which were to be held in 2022, are now scheduled for 2026. So, what preparations was the Election Commission making in these 4 years? Where exactly are the VVPATs, which were procured by spending thousands of crores of rupees, until now? The general public does not trust EVMs. Therefore, the only way to assure them is through VVPAT. If you are going to close that route, then how are people supposed to trust the functioning of the Election Commission?
6) Well, the Election Commission says that where elections are to be held by the ward system, the VVPAT method cannot be used. Then cancel the ward system! Why was the ward system introduced in the first place? What benefit do voters get from it? Why should voters vote four times? After the elections, which councilor should they approach for work? Those same councilors argue among themselves for credit and (other) things. Then who will look after the ward? Such an election system is not found anywhere else in India, so why is it only implemented in Maharashtra? Is it for the convenience of those in power? Anyway, if the Election Commission cannot provide EVM machines with VVPAT facilities even in Mumbai, where there is no ward system, then we demand that the Mumbai municipal elections be conducted using ballot papers.
There are doubts about the overall functioning of the Election Commission at the national level. If the Election Commission itself does not show autonomy, who will? Therefore, the Election Commission should act on the demands we have raised and the solutions to them without any bias, coming out of any pressure. These demands or solutions are not just of political parties, but they reflect the questions in the minds of the common people, and we hope that the Maharashtra Election Commission will be fully aware of this. We expect definite action from you on all these questions.
Yours sincerely,
(Sharad Pawar) President, Nationalist Congress Party, (Sh.P) (Raj Thackeray) President, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Jayant Patil) General Secretary, Peasants and Workers Party (Ajit Navale) General Secretary, Marxist Communist Party Congress Committee (Rais Shaikh) MLA, Samajwadi Party (Uddhav Thackeray) Party Chief, Shiv Sena, (U.B.Th) (Harshvardhan Sapkal) State President, Maharashtra Congress Committee (Subhash Lande) General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Varsha Gaikwad) Mumbai Congress President