The results of the Mumbai North West constituency in India’s Lok Sabha elections have sparked a political battle, with opposition parties alleging that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were tampered with during the vote count on June 4. At the centre of the controversy over the Mumbai North West constituency results is Rabindra Dattaram Waikal, leader of Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena party from Maharashtra, which won the seat by just 48 votes.
The controversy over the Mumbai North West constituency erupted after it was alleged that Ravindra Waikal’s brother-in-law, Mangesh Pandilkar, had used his mobile phone to “unlock” the Election Commission during vote counting.
Some reports have said that Mangesh Pandilkar was also using a mobile phone that was “connected” to the EVM. A Mid-Day report said that Pandilkar used the mobile phone to generate an OTP, which he then used to unlock the machine.
The incident has brought renewed attention to allegations of EVM tampering, which have been denied by Chief Election Commissioner Vandana Suryavanshi and the Mumbai Police.
While opposition parties have questioned the reliability of EVMs and demanded an investigation into the allegations, BJP leaders have defended the machines, saying they are standalone systems with no wireless communication capabilities, and demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) prosecute all those “spreading lies”.
The Uddhav Thackeray camp has alleged that Amol Kirtikar won the Lok Sabha seat from Mumbai North West, drawing parallels with the rigged elections in Chandigarh.
Aditya Thackeray said the party would go to court on the issue. “We have won the seat contested by Amol Kirtikar (Shiv Sena’s (UBT) candidate from Mumbai North West). We will definitely go to court,” Aditya Thackeray said at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday.
“Without EVMs, the BJP would not have won 240 seats…it would not have won even 40 seats,” he said. Also Read | From Elon Musk to Rahul Gandhi. Who said what about EVMs ‘unleashing’ political debate? 10 points
What is Shiv Sena claiming?
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab has detailed the alleged irregularities during the counting of votes in the Mumbai North West constituency. He said that no information was given to the Deputy Election Officer (ARO) after Amol Kirtikar’s 19th round of voting.
Anil Parab said, “There are a total of 14 tables in the counting booths of each assembly seat and there is an ARO (assistant counting officer) at each EVM counting table. After every vote counting, the final information is given to the ARO, but even after 19 rounds of vote counting were completed, the ARO was not informed.”
The Shiv Sena UBT leader also said that the election officer was receiving “frequent calls” and was visiting the toilet frequently. He also accused polling staff Dinesh Gurav of allowing Mangesh Pandilkar inside the polling station.
3.6 Million Indians visited us in a single day and chose us as their platform for Indian General Election Results. Check out the latest updates here!
