Kirtikar-Waikar vote-counting skirmish intensifies, ECI clarifies position

MUMBAI: The fight between the two Shiv Senas over alleged malpractices in vote-counting in Mumbai North West on June 4 intensified further on Sunday following media reports that the centre’s EVM had been accessed through a mobile phone by the winning candidate’s relative. The candidate, Ravindra Waikar of the Shiv Sena, defeated the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Amol Kirtikar by a mere 48 votes, leading to a flurry of allegations of tampering.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) lodged a complaint on June 5 against Mangesh Pandilkar, the brother-in-law of Waikar, for indulging in the prohibited act of using a mobile phone in the election booth at NESCO, Goregaon East. The phone allegedly belonged to a polling officer Dinesh Gurav, who was an Encore (poll portal) operator with the Election Commission. Gurav, in contravention of rules, handed over the mobile phone to Pandilkar. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) claimed that the phone could unlock the EVM through an OTP.

Amol Kirtikar, who has approached the ECI and warned that he will challenge the result in court, also sought CCTV footage of the counting centre and alleged that the returning officer (RO) of Mumbai North West constituency was deliberately not making it available. The officer Vandana Suryawanshi, however, has refused to share the footage with anyone without a court order.

Suryawanshi addressed a press conference on Sunday and declared that news reports that the EVM was unlocked by mobile through an OTP were “false and baseless”. “An EVM cannot be accessed by mobile,” she said. “We have initiated legal action against people and organisations who are spreading false information and creating doubts about the Indian electoral system.”

The RO also said that the EVM did not need any OTP for the counting process. “There is a misunderstanding about the OTP mentioned in media reports,” she said. “Encore is a data entry system of our office and has nothing to do with vote-counting. The assistant returning officer gets an OTP on his mobile to log in to the data entry system. EVM counting is a separate thing, and both have no connection with each other.”

Suryawanshi added that EVMs were stand-alone devices without any wired or wireless connectivity with units outside the EVM system. “There are technical features and robust administrative safeguards in place to rule out any possibility of manipulation,” she said. “Other safeguards include conducting everything in the presence of the candidates or their agents.” She also pointed out that Kirtikar was leading against Waikar after the 26th round in EVM vote-counting. “It was after the ballot paper counting that Waikar won,” she said.

Suryavanshi said her office had filed a police complaint on June 5 against Pandilkar for using a mobile phone inside the counting centre. The FIR was registered on June 13 against him and Gurav by the Vanrai police under Section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Vanrai police have sent Pandilkar’s phone for forensic analysis to find out if there were any phone calls or text messages made or received inside the counting centre. The police are also scanning the footage of CCTV units in the NESCO centre to check whether Pandilkar was using the phone. They are also checking whether Pandilkar was alone or had accomplices.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde slammed the Thackeray camp. “The opposition won the most seats in Maharashtra,” he said. “At that time, they did not blame the EVM but are now blaming it for a defeat in one constituency. They are jealous of Ravindra Waikar’s victory and are thus spreading lies and disinformation about the results and EVM. The police and administration will bring out the truth.”

Shinde faction leader Sanjay Nirupam and Waikar echoed the sentiment, saying that the Thackeray faction could not digest the defeat of their candidate. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, on the other hand, alleged that Surayawanshi was the officer responsible for the EVM tampering.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed concern on social media about the transparency in the electoral system. ‘EVMs in India are a “black box”, and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability,” he said in his post on X.

(Input by Megha Sood)