Mumbai: Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday slammed the Election Commission of India and asked if the election body values voters, election and democracy or not. On the occasion of the ‘National Voters Day’, Aaditya alleged that the EC has not held elections in Maharashtra due to the fear of BJP’s defeat.
The Shiv Sena UBT has been demanding local body elections in Maharashtra as well as a byelection for the vacant Lok Sabha seats ever since the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government was toppled in June 2022. The party has alleged that the elections are being avoided because of the negative public sentiment against the BJP.
“So today the ECI celebrates “National Voters Day”. Does the election commission actually want us to believe that they value, voters and democracy anymore,” Aaditya said in his post on X.
The Shiv Sena UBT leader pointed out that 20 cities in Maharashtra are being governed by administrators appointed by the state government because the elections have not been held there. He said that more than 12 crore people live in these cities and they have been deprived of the right to choose their representatives in the municipal bodies.
Interestingly, the local body elections are held by the state election commission and not the ECI. Also, some of the local body elections were due when the MVA government was in power, but they were postponed citing the Covid pandemic. The Shinde government has claimed that the elections have not been held because of the petitions regarding OBC reservation and delimitation in Mumbai are pending in the SC.
Aaditya also alleged that the Shinde government is in power because of the ECI. “Over 40 gadaars (traitors) have formed a government that totally violates the basis of our Constitution and democratic values. They should have resigned, contested and been in the assembly if elected. But today they know that the Election Commission is totally compromised (sic),” he said.
Accusing the ECI of working at the behest of the BJP, Aaditya said, “Pune and Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituencies are without elected representatives to the Parliament for a year. And yet fearing the ruling political party’s defeat, the EC has not held elections.”
Referring to the EC’s decision in the case of dispute over Shiv Sena party’s name and election symbol, Aaditya said that the least said about the institute is better as it is a “fraud today”. “Do we pretend to be a democracy anymore or bring facts to light and ask the Entirely Compromised (EC) commission to work on restoring democracy in our state? When will voters be heard?” he said.
