THE RETURNING Officer of Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat, where allegations of manipulation of poll results have been made by Shiv Sena UBT candidate Amol Kirtikar, on Sunday said there was no attempt to hack the EVMs inside the vote counting centre even as police said they were investigating the unauthorised use of a mobile phone at the centre.
The mobile phone which belonged to a data operator at the centre was seen in the possession of an aide of the winning candidate, Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar, leading to allegations of EVM manipulation. Waikar beat Kirtikar by 48 votes — the thinnest margin across the country.
At a press conference, Vandana Suryavanshi, Returning Officer of Mumbai North West, said the phone belonged to a data operator who only had access to the Election Commission’s ENCORE application system.
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The ENCORE system is an end-to-end application for returning officers to digitise the votes polled, tabulate the data round-wise, and generate various statutory reports during counting.
Kirtikar had alleged manipulation in counting after the mobile phone was seen in the possession of Mangesh Pandilkar, brother-in-law of Waikar, at the counting centre. The phone belonged to data operator Dinesh Gurav, who was authorised to carry his phone inside. There were allegations that the phone may have been used to tamper with the EVMs.
Denying the allegations, Suryavanshi said: “EVM is a standalone system and is independent of any secondary device. There is no one-time password (OTP) required to programme or unlock it, and it cannot be hacked.”
She clarified that Gurav’s phone could receive an OTP to access the EC’s ENCORE application, not the EVM.
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“The counting procedure is statutory, and there is no way to unlock the EVM with any OTP. The OTP is only used to enable the Assistant Returning Officer to use the ENCORE system, which is just data updation software. The process of data entry and counting are entirely separate and independent. The EVM is not a communicable device in any case,” Suryavanshi said.
She acknowledged that Gurav handed over his phone to Pandilkar. She said both have been booked by police, and Gurav has been suspended.
“The police will investigate why Gurav’s mobile phone was with the winning candidate’s aide,” she said.
When asked about demands for recounting, Suryavanshi said, “No recounting was requested by any candidate. The procedure being discussed is the reverification of postal ballots to identify invalid votes.”
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According to Suryavanshi, Sena UBT candidate Kirtikar was leading by 1 vote in EVM counting until the 26th round. “Waikar was leading in postal ballots by 49 votes. There was reverification of 110 invalid postal ballots, and after that, they were confirmed invalid,” she said. According to her, the results were announced at 7:53:20 pm, and Kirtikar raised objections at 8:06 pm. “Every process laid down by the Election Commission of India has been followed,” she said.
The Vanrai police station have launched an investigation after filing an FIR on Wednesday, booking Pandilkar for allegedly using a mobile phone at the counting station during vote counting. The use of phones by non-Election Commission personnel at counting stations is prohibited.
The Election Commission authorised certain poll officials to carry mobile phones to the counting centre, sharing the list with police a day before the results as per rules. Gurav’s name was in this list, police confirmed.
During the investigation, CCTV footage from the counting centre showed Pandilkar using a mobile phone. When questioned, he said it was not his phone. Pandilkar told police that around 4 pm, he had borrowed Gurav’s phone to contact his driver. Police are verifying Pandilkar’s statement.
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“ENCORE operator Gurav was allowed to use his mobile phone to be in contact with the Returning Officer and receive OTP while operating the (ENCORE application) system. We are investigating if his mobile phone was misused by anyone for any violation or wrongdoing,” said Rampyare Rajbhar, senior inspector of Vanrai police station.
The police denied news reports that said that Gurav’s mobile phone was used to generate the OTP that unlocked the EVM. They clarified that they have not shared any such information.
The police have secured CCTV footage from the counting station. The mobile phone in question has been seized and sent to the FSL for analysis. “Once the FSL report comes in, we will know whether Pandilkar made calls or send messages through this phone,” said the officer. “We have booked Pandilkar and Gurav under relevant sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and IPC Sections 188 and 34.” No arrests have been made yet.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, referring to a news report on the Mumbai North West election result, said in a post on X, “EVMs in India are black box and nobody is allowed to scrutinise 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.”
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Shiv Sena UBT MLA Aaditya Thackeray said, “Allowing the Mindhe gang (Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena) candidate to be sworn in as Lok Sabha MP would be the murder of democracy. We are approaching the court as well in this case.”
Dismissing the allegations, Waikar said: “They (Opposition) are not able to digest my victory easily and that’s why they are crying foul. Let the law take its own course and everything will be crystal clear.”
