Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 15 : Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Thursday raised allegations of electoral malpractice happening in the ongoing local body polls across 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra.
Thackeray alleged that the indelible ink, which is put on the fingers of electors after voting, is being easily removed with nail polish remover and sanitisers, allowing certain people to seemingly vote more than once. He said that such a situation is proof of 'collusion' between the ruling Mahayuti and the State Election Commission (SEC).
"Perhaps this is the first election where so many complaints are coming in that the ink applied is coming off immediately. There is collusion between the Election Commission and the ruling party. Many irregularities are happening," Thackeray alleged during a press conference.
Calling for action to be taken against the election commissioner, he took a jibe at the poll body, asking whether they had "hired a sanitiser agency" to allow for the ink to be removed so easily.
"Has a sanitiser agency hired by Election Commission? I think action should be taken against the Election Commissioner. What have they done in the last nine years? The Election Commission is a servant, not a king. I urge you to come out in large numbers and vote," he said.
"There are many people who are not aware of what their polling booth is...so many problems are coming up," he added.
In the press conference, he showed alleged proof on his mobile regarding the removal of ink by sanitiser or nail polish remover, saying that "this clearly shows that democracy is being killed here."
"Why is the election commissioner taking a salary? The BMC election is happening after nine years. What did they do for 9 years? This is the public's money. It seems that our workers need to sit at the election commissioner's office everyday, to ask them what all work they have done," he said.
He further trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the real reason for wanting to implement 'One Nation One Election' is to have 'serious chaos' and to 'win them one way or other'.
Shiv Sena (UBT) is contesting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in alliance with Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Earlier, Raj Thackeray also alleged electoral malpractice, including the alleged removal of the indelible ink.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in Mumbai in the ongoing BMC elections, Thackeray alleged that a voting machine called "PADU" is being used, about which political parties were not given any prior information by the State Election Commission.
Printing Auxiliary Display Unit (PADU) acts as a backup in case of any emergency or technical error in connecting the voting units to the control unit.
He alleged that a new type of pen is being used to apply the indelible ink.
"Till now, the ink that used to be applied--now a new pen has been introduced, and complaints are coming about that pen. If sanitiser is applied, the ink gets erased. Now all that remains is that ink is applied, then you come out, erase the ink, and then go back inside and vote again. I want to inform all of you about how the system is being run. When we started this, the intention in one way or another was to win elections," he said.
Following the allegations, the State Election Commissioner (SEC) clarified that attempting to erase the ink applied on a voter's finger and thereby trying to create confusion among voters is a malpractice. The SEC will take appropriate legal action if anyone tries to erase the ink and tries to vote again.
The SEC has insisted that even if someone tries to commit malpractice, erasing the ink does not allow the person to vote again.
The SEC said in an official statement, "Necessary safeguards in this regard have already been put in place. Once a voter has cast their vote, a record of it is maintained. Therefore, merely erasing the ink does not enable a voter who has committed such malpractice to vote again."
Polling for BMC and 28 other municipal corporations commenced on Thursday morning at 7.30 am, and will continue till 5.30 pm, with vote counting scheduled to begin on Friday, January 16.