A close election battle between Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar and Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena’s Amol Kirtikar. The former won the poll battle with a thin margin of 48 votes only, sparking a controversy.
The scuffle between the two parties began with Thackeray’s party alleging that Shinde cheated the EVM polls. His party claims that Shinde has won by hacking into the EVM system on the poll counting day, June 4. According to the story published by Mid Day, Kirtikar and two independent candidates registered an FIR at the Vanrai Police station against Waikar’s brother-in-law Mangesh Pandilkar. They reported that he was present inside the polling station on the day of counting when he received an OTP. The story does not explain the reason behind OTP and its potential link to EVM hacking plausibility.
Just when you thought that EVM controversy has died out after the general election result comes the serious allegation made in the Mumbai North West constituency where the election result was overturned and Ravindra Waikar of Shiv Sena defeated Amol Kirtikar of Sena (UBT) by 48… pic.twitter.com/56j3Dxx6Ur
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) June 16, 2024
Earlier, during elections the Oppositions were adamant to deploy ballot paper method for casting votes and not EVM, considering the possibility of malpractice by the BJP-led NDA party. However, the Election Commission proceeded with the EVM method.
Thackeray’s son, Aditya Thakeray urged the release of CCTV footage of the counting day at the ballot centers.
“We have always had suspicions about this regime tampering with EVMs. Even Elon Musk has expressed his views, claiming everything can be hacked. Despite several requests, the Election Commission does not have the courage to release the CCTV footage of the counting day that would support our claims,” he said.
“A false narrative”, say Returning Officer
Considering that the boiling controversy maligned the sanctity of the election process, the Election Commission of India did not delay in issuing clarification. Vandana Suryavanshi, the Returning Officer of the 27 Mumbai North West parliamentary constituency, denied the allegations made in the story. Suryavanshi claimed that the EVM machines do not need an OTP to be locked. In a press conference in Mumbai, Suryavanshi claimed: “There is no OTP on mobile for unlocking EVM as it is non-programmable and it has no wireless communication capabilities. It is a complete lie being spread by a newspaper, which is being used by some leaders to create a false narrative.”
Suryavanshi further said: “The OTP generated was related to ENCORE, an online data compilation system and that was only restricted to updating the data on the Election Commission’s official website.” To input data on the system, a few persons at every polling station have access to this compilation system, Suryavanshi claimed. “It is unfortunate that the mobile used by one of our officers fell in unauthorized hands and we have already filed a police complaint,” she added.
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Ballot counting going astray
On the day of counting, Kirtikar was leading by a single vote against Waikar around 5 pm. At 6:30 pm, on Waikar’s demand the rejected ballot votes were recounted and Waikar was leading by 48 votes. Later, both the candidates approached the Returning Officer for reevaluation of 111 rejected/invalid postal votes. The Returning Officer permitted it under camera vigilance, following which Waikar was declared the final winner.
Police dismiss EVM hacking claims
Substantiating the Returning Officers statements, the Vanrai Police Station also issued a press note denying the claims made in the Mid-Day story. Their story that an OTP was used to unlock an EVM machine, destroying the sanctity of the electoral process is baseless.
“No such information was ever shared by the Vanrai police station. The news report has made false claims and has led to a lot of unnecessary confusion. Necessary action will be taken against the media houses that have caused this confusion,” the press note read.
