Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray to jointly lead Mumbai protest march against ECI and SIR today

Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS chief Raj Thackeray will jointly lead a public march in Mumbai on October 4 to protest against the Election Commission of India ECI and raise concerns over the Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rollsThe march was announced on September 26 after the two leaders held discussions over the SIR exercise and concerns surrounding the functioning of the poll panel The protest is expected to bring together workers and supporters of the two parties with the organisers also reaching out to other political parties and citizens to participateThackerays announce joint march against SIRThe proposed demonstration comes amid an ongoing political debate over the SIR exercise and the preparation and revision of electoral rolls Uddhav and Raj Thackeray have criticised the Election Commission over what they allege are irregularities in the process and have questioned the functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh KumarUddhav had earlier demanded Kumars removal after a report in The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to several decisions and procedures linked to the SIR exercise The Election Commission has rejected the interpretation of internal disagreements and maintained that decisions of the commission are taken through its institutional processMarch planned as a broader public mobilisationThe two parties have sought to position the October 4 march as a public mobilisation rather than an event limited to MNS and Shiv Sena UBT workersThis is a rally of the people To ensure it does not remain confined to a single party but becomes the collective voice of the entire political system and the citizenry we will reach out to all political parties to join this front the statement readFollowing the announcement the Thackeray cousins began discussions with other opposition parties including Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar about participation in the march Both parties have subsequently announced that they will join the October 4 agitationMarch route revised from initial announcementThe protest was initially described as a march beginning at Metro Cinema Subsequent announcements placed the starting point at Byculla with the march scheduled to conclude at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT Later reports said the route would end at the BMC headquartersOrganisers have also said that party flags will not be used during the march and that only the Tricolour will be carried presenting the event as a mobilisation around the electoral process rather than a conventional party rallyRaj Thackeray calls for cancellation of SIRRaj Thackeray has separately criticised the SIR exercise and demanded that it be cancelled He has also called for opposition parties to come together over concerns related to electoral rolls and the use of electronic votingThe MNS chief has argued that the issues raised by the opposition warrant a broader political response and has called for a return to paper ballotsUddhav Thackeray has also demanded action against the Election Commission leadership and questioned decisions taken during the SIR process The Shiv Sena UBT chief has called for a probe into the functioning of the poll panel and in an earlier statement sought fresh elections in Maharashtra West Bengal and Tamil Nadu using ballot papersOpposition parties join planned agitationThe proposed march is taking place against the backdrop of continuing debate over Maharashtras electoral rolls The state election machinery has been conducting the SIR exercise while opposition parties have raised concerns over voters whose names were left out of the draft electoral rollWith inputs from IANS