Raj, Uddhav Thackeray announce joint Mumbai march against SIR on October 4
Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray have announced a joint march in Mumbai on October 4 against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Their parties, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena (UBT), said they would invite other political parties to join the march and urged people across Maharashtra to take part.
In a joint statement, the two leaders accused the Election Commission under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of acting in the interests of the BJP-led alliance across India.
The Thackeray brothers alleged that the SIR exercise had been used to deceive voters and said the march would protest what they called a “gross deception of voters”.
“Come together to save democracy in the country and its Constitution,” the statement said. The time and venue of the march will be announced later.WHAT TRIGGERED THE PROTEST
The announcement follows reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to poll panel decisions on at least 14 occasions over 10 months.
The issues reportedly included changes affecting voter registration, the deletion and restoration of names, and control over electoral-roll data.
The Election Commission has disputed the suggestion that these differences made its decisions invalid. It said differences of opinion were natural and that final decisions, including orders relating to SIR, were approved unanimously.
On the dispute over Form 6, the Commission said the statutory form remained unchanged and that an additional declaration was required under SIR orders.UDDHAV SLAMS GYANESH KUMAR
Uddhav Thackeray demanded Kumar’s removal and prosecution on September 23, accusing him of undermining democracy.
“Gyanesh Kumar should be immediately sacked and jailed because he has murdered democracy and insulted the Constitution,” the former Maharashtra chief minister said.
He also called for recent elections in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu to be annulled and held again using ballot papers.
The Shiv Sena UBT chief also claimed that 45 lakh voters were added to Maharashtra’s electoral rolls ahead of the 2024 Assembly election, while the names of 40 lakh voters now face objections.THACKERAY COUSINS JOIN FORCES AGAIN
The October march is the latest joint move by the cousins after years of political rivalry. Their parties came together for the Mumbai civic election earlier this year, released a joint manifesto and campaigned on the Marathi identity issue.
Addressing a gathering in December 2025, Uddhav Thackeray asserted that leadership of Maharashtra belonged to the Thackeray family. “Only Thackeray can lead Maharashtra,” he said.
The alliance lost the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election to the BJP-led Mahayuti. Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 seats, while Raj Thackeray’s MNS secured six, in what both leaders described as a better-than-expected fight.
Raj and Uddhav subsequently appeared together at an event marking Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s birth centenary a week later.
Their latest campaign shifts the focus from the civic election to the electoral-roll exercise. The parties have yet to say which other political groups will join them on October 4.- Ends
Executive Editor at India Today, Head of the Mumbai Bureau, and Editor of the India Today Group’s Marathi digital news platform, Mumbai Tak. Has a keen interest in political reporting and analysis and closely follows developments across Mumbai and Maharashtra.
From the 2005 Mumbai deluge and the 26/11 terror attacks to the 2019 Maharashtra political turmoil, has witnessed and reported on major events from the ground. An economics postgraduate and Chevening Scholar, writes extensively on politics and investigative issues.
