The Lok Sabha election results of the Mumbai North West seat has triggered a political slugfest with the Opposition claiming that the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was tampered with during the vote counting on June 4. At the center of the Mumbai North West election result row is Ravindra Dattaram Waikar – a leader in the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra – who won the seat by just 48 votes.
The controversy on the Mumbai North West seat erupted following allegations that Mangesh Pandilkar, brother-in-law of Ravindra Waikar, used a mobile phone to “unlock” the EVM during vote counting.
A few reports have alleged Mangesh Pandilkar was also using a mobile phone that was "connected" to an EVM. A Mid-Day report mentioned that Pandilkar used the phone to generate an OTP which was then used to unlock the machine.
This incident has brought renewed attention to claims of EVM tampering, allegations rubbished by returning officer Vandana Suryavanshi and Mumbai Police.
While the Opposition has demanded an investigation into the allegations while questioning reliability of EVMs, 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) should prosecute all those who “amplified the lie”.
The Uddhav Thackeray camp has claimed that Amol Kirtikar has won the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat while drawing similarities with the Chandigarh mayoral election scam.
Aditya Thackeray said the party will go to court on this issue. "We have won the seat contested by Amol Kirtikar (Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Mumbai North West)..and we will definitely go to court...," Aditya Thackeray said speaking at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday.
"If there was no EVM, BJP would not have won 240...They would not have won even 40 seats," he said. Also Read | Elon Musk to Rahul Gandhi. Who said what on EVM ‘unlocking’ political row? 10 Points
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab has shared the details of the alleged irregularities during vote counting at Mumbai North West seat. Anil Parab said the assistant returning officer (ARO) was not given information after the 19th round of Amol Kirtikar's vote.
Anil Parab said, "There are a total of 14 tables at the counting place of every MP's seat..every EVM counting table has an ARO i.e. assistant returning officer...After every round of counting, the final information is given to the ARO..but after 19 rounds of counting, the ARO was not informed..."
The Shiv Sena-UBT leader also said that the election officer was getting “frequent calls” and was frequently visiting the washroom. He also accused the polling staff Dinesh Gurav of allowing Mangesh Pandilkar inside the counting station.
