Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Mumbai Police denies media reports of ‘unlocking’ of EVMs by relatives of newly elected MPs

MUMBAI: A Mumbai police official on Sunday said media reports that a relative of a newly elected MP used a mobile phone to “unlock” his e-signature on the day of counting of votes in the Lok Sabha elections were false and baseless.

The paper had alleged that Mangesh Pandilkar, brother-in-law of Ravindra Waikal, the MP from Mumbai North West, who won by a slim margin of 48 votes, used his mobile phone inside the vote counting centre at NESCO in Goregaon to “generate the OTP to unlock the EVM”.

“The report is fake and baseless. No such information (that the mobile phones are being used to generate OTPs for unlocking EVMs) has been given by any official,” an official from Vanraj police station said.

Vanraj police on Wednesday arrested Waikal’s brother-in-law, Pandilkar, under Section 188 (disobedience to public order) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly using a mobile phone at a poll counting station in Goregaon on June 4, when the general election results were declared.

Jogeshwari constituency polling officer Dinesh Gurav was also arrested by police after his mobile phone was found in the possession of an unauthorised person on the day of counting of votes.

Earlier in the day, Vandana Suryavanshi, Election Officer for Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency, held a press conference and denied the reports.

“EVMs are standalone systems and do not require an OTP to unlock them. They are not programmable and have no wireless communication capabilities. This is a complete lie being spread by newspapers, who have been issued notices under Sections 499, 505 of the Indian Penal Code for defamation and spreading false news,” Suryavanshi said.

She said advanced technological features and strong administrative safeguards have been put in place to eliminate any possibility of manipulation of EVMs and asserted that the counting process is independent and has no link to any misuse of mobile phones.