The Mumbai Northwest Lok Sabha seat’s EVM unlocking allegations in the recent elections have stirred a political controversy. Rahul Gandhi of Congress voiced concerns about electoral transparency, countered by the Election Commission denying tampering.
Rahul Gandhi said serious concerns are being raised about transparency in the country’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,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
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. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCF pic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024
The controversy arose when the Mid-Day newspaper reported that a family member of Ravindra Waikar, the Shiv Sena candidate from Mumbai Northwest Lok Sabha constituency, was reportedly discovered using a mobile phone that was “connected” to an EVM during the vote counting on June 4. He emerged as the election winner with a margin of 48 votes.
The report alleges that Waikar’s brother-in-law, Mangesh Pandilkar, used a mobile phone to unlock an EVM during vote counting. Police stated that the telephone generated an OTP to unlock the EVM. Pandilkar and polling official Dinesh Gurav face charges under IPC section 188 for violating the ban on phones in counting centers, per the Vanrai Police.
Vandana Suryavanshi, the returning officer, dismissed the accusations. During a June 16 press conference, she stated that notices were sent to Mid-Day and Marathi daily Lokmat for spreading ‘false’ information. She clarified that EVMs are standalone, non-programmable, and lack wireless communication abilities.
Mumbai police dismissed media reports as fake, clarifying that no official shared information about using a mobile phone to unlock EVMs. They did find the personal mobile phone of Dinesh Gurav, a data entry operator, with an unauthorized person from the Jogeshwari assembly constituency. Action is underway.
Aaditya Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) referring to Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s pitch for eliminating EVMs. In a post on X, Elon Musk had said, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.”
Rajeev Chandrasekhar disagreed with Elon Musk’s critique of EVMs, calling it a broad generalization. Musk countered with the statement “Anything can be hacked.” Akhilesh Yadav pushed for all upcoming elections to use paper ballots.