"Gyanesh Kumar must step down": CPI's D Raja backs Thackeray brothers' joint march against CEC

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 4 (ANI): Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary D Raja on Sunday backed the joint protest march led by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the protests reflected growing public anger and that Kumar “must step down.”
Calling the rally “encouraging and inspiring”, Raja said protests are taking place beyond the national capital and that people were expressing their anger and concerns.
“This is a very encouraging and inspiring rally because it conveys a strong message. It is not something happening in the national capital, Delhi. The protests are all over, and people are expressing their anger, their agony. Ganesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner, does not respect the people's anger and demand… What is happening in Mumbai shows that the political forces and social forces will come together and express their united anger against Ganesh Kumar. He must understand; he must step down,” Raja told ANI.
Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray led a joint protest march toward the BMC headquarters against Gyanesh Kumar. Opposition parties have been demanding his resignation.
Uddhav Thackeray said the protest was aimed at opposing what he described as an attack on voters' rights and democracy.
"We are standing here today to overthrow the dictator," he said. He claimed that the names of "13 crore people" had been deleted from electoral rolls across the country and alleged that voters had also been excluded in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
"Does the Home Ministry have the power to cancel a person's citizenship rights? They are using that power through Gyanesh Kumar, and that is why we do not want Gyanesh Kumar," he said.
Raj Thackeray called for cancellation of the SIR exercise in Maharashtra.
"Our demand is that the entire SIR conducted in Maharashtra should be cancelled," he said.
"I appeal to all political parties to go to Delhi and demand that the SIR should be cancelled. Voting machines should be discontinued, and elections should be conducted using ballot papers," he added. (ANI)