After reports emerged about the Vanrai police in Maharashtra have discovered that Mangesh Pandilkar, a relative of winning candidate from Mumbai North West Lok Sabha Ravindra Waikar, used a mobile phone connected to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Congress senior leader and Lok Sabha MP raised transparency and accountability questions about India’s electoral process.

“EVMs in India are a “black box,” and nobody is allowed to scrutinize 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,” the Raebareli and Wayanad MP said.

Ravindra Waikar of Shiv Sena (Shinde) narrowly won the election by a margin of 48 votes, defeating Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Amol Gajanan Kirtikar in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

According to a Mid Day report, the said phone was utilised to generate OTPs to unlock the EVMs at the NESCO Centre on June 4.

The Congress party has demanded clarification from the Election Commission on the issue:

“A serious matter related to EVM has come to light.

In Mumbai, NDA candidate Ravindra Waikar’s relative’s mobile phone was connected to the EVM. This NDA candidate won by just 48 votes.

The question then is whether

* Why was the mobile phone of a relative of the NDA candidate connected to the EVM?

* How did the mobile phone reach the place where votes were being counted?

There are many questions which raise doubts. The Election Commission should give clarification,” the party said.

The issue started trending on social media after Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi posted a news clip from the Mid Report.

In her post she highlighted several key concerns:

• She claimed there was undue pressure on the police not to file an FIR, a request supported by both Amol Kirtikar and two independent candidates.
• Despite the candidate’s right to review CCTV footage from counting day, Mumbai Suburban District Collector has denied this request to Kirtikar, who the Election Commission claims lost by a margin of 48 votes.
• She pointed out irregularities in the vote counting process, noting that the announcement of votes was halted after the 18th or 19th round. After a pause, Ravindra Waikar was declared the winner post the final round.

“This is a fraud at the highest level and yet the Election Commission of India continues to sleep,” Chaturvedi remarked. She further alleged that a relative of the ‘manipulated’ winner was caught carrying a mobile phone with the capability to unlock the EVM machine. Chaturvedi warned that without ECI intervention, this could become the biggest election result scam since the Chandigarh Mayor election, vowing to take the battle to court.

Mid Day reported the police have issued CRPC 41A notices to Pandilkar and Dinesh Gurav, the EC’s ENCORE (poll portal) operator. The phone has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for data retrieval and fingerprint analysis. According to police officials, the incident occurred during the vote counting for the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency.

Senior inspector Rampiyare Rajbhar confirmed the investigation’s focus on the phone’s call records and other potential uses. Statements from other candidates have been recorded, and further cooperation from the accused is being monitored.

An FIR was registered on June 14 by an Election Commission officer following complaints from rival candidates Kirtikar, Arora, and Bharat Shah. The police are now scrutinizing CCTV footage from the NESCO centre to trace the phone’s entry and identify additional suspects.

On June 4, during vote counting at the NESCO centre, Kirtikar was initially leading. However, the inclusion of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) votes, unlocked using the same mobile phone, shifted the lead to Waikar. This raised suspicions of foul play.