States » WestPosted at: Sep 29 2026 7:20PM


Shinde SS MLA Sanjay Gaikwad backs SIR, says electoral roll cleansing should not be politicised

Buldhana, Sep 29 (UNI) Eknath Shinde-Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad has defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming that a large number of duplicate and allegedly bogus names have been removed from the voter list in his constituency and urged political parties not to politicise the exercise.
Gaikwad said that even before the SIR exercise was launched, he had repeatedly claimed that his Buldhana Assembly constituency had nearly 50,000 bogus voters and several duplicate names.
According to him, of the around 3.23 lakh voters in the constituency, nearly 23,000 names were found to be bogus before the SIR exercise.
He claimed that the electoral roll in his constituency had now come down by around 71,000 names following the SIR process.
Gaikwad said these names had been added during the tenure of the previous Congress governments.
Supporting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Gaikwad said the Election Commission was doing the right thing by removing bogus names and undertaking door-to-door verification through Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
A genuine electoral roll is now being prepared and there is no need to politicise the process, Gaikwad said.
Taking a dig at NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar over demands concerning electoral rolls, Gaikwad said people from both Shiv Sena factions and the two NCP factions may want their respective parties to reunite, but such a merger was not possible at present.
If Rohit Pawar is not satisfied, he should resign as an MLA, appear for the IAS or IPS examination and become an IPS officer so that he can conduct the inquiry himself, Gaikwad said in a sarcastic remark.
On the drought situation and the proposed Kumbh Mela, Gaikwad said the religious event should not be stopped merely because parts of the state were facing drought. The intensity of the drought is lower in the areas where the Kumbh Mela is held.
The Kumbh is a continuous religious process and does not stop because of drought or excessive rainfall, he said, adding that the event should not be viewed as an occasion involving unnecessary extravagance or wasteful spending.
Gaikwad, however, acknowledged that the impact of drought was being felt most severely by farmers. He said officials, employees, traders and industrialists were less directly affected by the crisis and that society needed to consider the plight of farmers, who he described as the country's food providers.
UNI SP RN
Tags: #Shinde SS MLA Sanjay Gaikwad backs SIR# says electoral roll cleansing should not be politicised
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