Mumbai: The controversy over Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar’s win against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Amol Kirtikar in the Mumbai North-West seat is refusing to die down, with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party planning to challenge the result in the High Court within a week.
“This defeat is very suspicious, and we are taking it to court,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab at a press conference in Mumbai Monday. “It is our win and they snatched it away from us by misusing the system.”
Meanwhile, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena has denied any misuse of any system and said that the Opposition alliance in Maharashtra — the Maha Vikas Aghadi — and especially the Shiv Sena (UBT) is unnecessarily crying foul.
“Rahul Gandhi and Aaditya Thackeray should apologise for spreading false information regarding EVMs. The newspaper has also apologised for its news,” said Sanjay Nirupam, Shiv Sena leader, to media persons.
Speaking at a press conference Monday evening, Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar said, “Aaditya is very young. There is a procedure of elections. Whenever an EVM is opened, signature is taken before opening the seal. The only question was why the postal ballots were recounted. Because the winning margin was low. They are just confusing people. Their words have no weightage.”
What happened on counting day
Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Anil Parab stated that on counting day, everything was proceeding smoothly until the 19th round, when the process for announcing results was changed.
According to the Election Commission’s counting process, the returning officer (RO) announces the results after each round is complete, and the next round begins only afterwards.
Parab explained that, according to the rules, there are 14 tables for counting in each assembly, plus another table for the assistant returning officer (ARO).
“Our party poll agent was at the ARO table, where the results were tallied before going to the RO. There was a net between us and the ARO, making it difficult for us to understand the process,” said Parab.
Shiv Sena (UBT) alleges that after the 19th round, the announcement of results stopped until the 26th round.
“We raised an objection, but they didn’t listen. We don’t know what happened after the 19th round, which is why we need to see the CCTV footage,” said Amol Kirtikar to ThePrint.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has also alleged that when the public announcement of results stopped after the 19th round and resumed after the 26th round, they found a discrepancy of 650 votes.
“After voting, a form called 17C is issued, which has the total number of votes. This same form is used on counting day for tallying. After counting, there is another form, 17C part two, where officials report the actual count and tally. We did not receive form 17C part two after the 19th round. Between the 19th and 26th rounds, there was a difference of 650 votes between our tally and their count. We raised an objection, but it was ignored,” said Parab.
According to Kirtikar, in the end when all rounds of counting were done, the RO paused for 2-3 minutes.
“We thought she paused to take a water break or something, but then suddenly she announced the results. In the meantime, we were writing our objection and had even raised our hand but she had announced the results orally,” said Kirtikar
What the RO has said
On Sunday, Vandana Suryavanshi, the RO of the Mumbai North-West constituency, told the media that EVMs can’t be hacked using an OTP.
She clarified that the FIR lodged with the police concerns the misuse of a mobile phone by Mangesh Pandilkar, Ravindra Waikar’s relative. Pandilkar allegedly used the phone of authorised data operator Dinesh Gurav inside the counting centre, which was not allowed. Pandilkar was booked Wednesday for his alleged use of the mobile phone at the counting centre.
“There was no attempt to hack the EVMs inside the vote counting center,” RO Suryavanshi said, addressing the media. “However, police are investigating the unauthorised use of a mobile phone at the centre.”
She said the phone belonged to a data operator who had access to the Election Commission’s ENCORE app. This phone was later seen with Pandilkar, Waikar’s brother-in-law.
The ENCORE system is an end-to-end encrypted app which allows ROs to digitise votes polled, tabulate data round-wise, and generate various statutory reports during counting. The phone belonged to Dinesh Gurav, a data operator who was authorised to use his phone inside the counting centre.
She clarified that Gurav’s phone could receive an OTP to access the EC’s ENCORE app, not the EVM.
“The counting procedure is statutory, and there is no way to unlock the EVM with any OTP,” she said. “The OTP is only for the assistant returning officer to use the ENCORE system, which is just a data updation software. Data entry and counting are separate and independent processes. The EVM is not a communicable device in any case.”
What next
Shiv Sena (UBT) will be going to the HC sometime this week, Parab informed ThePrint.
“We are in talks with our legal team to see whether we will be demanding a recounting or re-election. But we will go to court very soon,” he said.
The party has also objected to RO’s refusal to hand over the CCTV footage to them.
“In fact, we had first requested them on 6 June to give us the CCTV footage. The official had even said yes then and said that he will give it in a day or two. Then, we sent a request again Saturday. There was no response. Then on Monday, they suddenly refused, saying you need to get a court order,” said Kirtikar.
Shiv Sena UBT has also alleged that the phone used by Pandilkar needs to be investigated — who he called, why he took the phone.
“They say that an OTP is used to update the ENCORE app. When candidates Shah and Arora caught the phone being misused, that phone was sent out. Then which phone did they use to update the information from? We need information on all of this. It is all suspicious,” said Parab. “The FIR was registered after 10 days and we believe in these 10 days, phones have been exchanged.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)