Maharashtra poll officials deny EVM unlocking reports

New Delhi, June 16

Mumbai North West Lok Sabha segment’s Returning Officer Vandana Suryavanshi on Sunday denied media reports claiming manipulation of EVMs at the counting station for the segment through an unlocking mechanism using a mobile phone and its OTP.

“The EVM is a standalone system and there is no need for an OTP to unlock it. It is not programmable and has no wireless communication capabilities. It is a lie being spread by a newspaper,” Suryavanshi said, adding that notices had been sent to the newspapers concerned.

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EVM is standalone system and there is no need for an OTP to unlock it. It’s not programmable and it has no wireless communication capabilities. —Vandana Suryavanshi, Returning officer

Media reports claimed that a kin of Ravindra Waikar, the Shiv Sena candidate who won the seat by 48 votes, using a mobile phone connected to an EVM during vote counting on June 4 and unlocked it with a one time password.

The Vanrai police, meanwhile, said Mangesh Pandilkar, brother-in-law of Waikar, was booked under Section 188 (disobeying official order) of the IPC, on Wednesday for allegedly using a mobile phone at a counting centre in Goregaon on June 4, when results of the LS Election were announced.

Suryavanshi said the personal mobile phone of one Dinesh Gurav, the data entry operator of the Jogeshwari Assembly constituency, was found in the hands of an unauthorised person and action was being taken in this regard.