Amid the ongoing claims over the alleged malpractices in vote counting in Mumbai North West, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar has finally spoken on the issue and expressed his displeasure against the “unfair means”, saying that he will challenge the result in Supreme Court.
Responding to the ongoing EVM hacking claims, Kirtikar, who was defeated by Ravindra Waikar of the Shiv Sena, said, “No action was taken against them (Shiv Sena) by the counting officer despite the complaint.”
“The question is not whether the EVM was hacked or not, but why unfair means were not inquired. We will challenge the poll result in the Supreme Court,” he added.
EC Rejects Claims, Says EVM ‘Standalone Device’
The war of words between the two Shiv Senas intensified over reports of malpractices in vote-counting in Mumbai North West. It was alleged that the EVM had been accessed through a mobile phone by the winning candidate’s relative. However, an Election Commission (EC) official rejected the claim, stating that the EVM is a “standalone device” with “robust administrative safeguards” to protect it from any kind of manipulation.
“The EVM is a standalone system and there is no need for an OTP to unlock it. It is not programmable and has no wireless communication capabilities. It is a complete lie being spread by a newspaper. We have issued notice to Mid-day newspaper under sections 499, 505 of the Indian Penal Code for defamation and spreading false news,” Vandana Suryavanshi, the returning officer of Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency said on Sunday.
The candidate, Ravindra Waikar of the Shiv Sena, defeated the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Amol Kirtikar by a mere 48 votes, leading to a series of tampering allegations.
What Is The Controversy About?
The row erupted after a report by the Mid-Day raised questions at the credibility of EVMs.The newspaper reported that the police are investigating the role of Mangesh Pandilkar, a relative and aide of Ravindra Waikar, and Dinesh Gurav, on the day of counting of votes at NESCO Centre in Mumbai. The police said Pandilkar was using his mobile phone to generate OTPs to “unlock” the EVMs.
The report stated that the police had found that Gurav had used the same phone to generate the OTP to unlock the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) for service voter.
Notably, Shiv Sena’s Waikar lost on the EVM votes for the Mumbai North West seat, but won after the postal ballots were counted.
Following this, a political slugfest began after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders on Sunday cited the report that also said the Shiv Sena candidate won by thin margin of 48 votes with his mobile phone found “connected” to an EVM during the vote count.
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