Who is Ravindra Waikar? Shiv Sena MP at the centre of 'EVM hacking' row

Ravindra Waikar

The Lok Sabha elections to the Mumbai North West seat has taken a new turn with allegations that winning Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Waikar’s relative was seen with a mobile phone at the counting centre which was used to generate one-time password (OTP) used to to unlock an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) - a charge which dismissed by the Returning Officer.

Ravindra Dattaram Waikar contested 2024 Lok Sabha polls as a candidate of Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena from Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat and won by 48 votes.

A report by Mid-Day newspaper has alleged that a mobile phone was used to generate a one-time password (OTP) to unlock the EVMs at the time of counting of votes on June 4 by an aide of Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Dattaram Waikar, who defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Gajanan Kirtikar on Mumbai North West seat in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena’s Waikar lost on the EVM votes for the Mumbai North West seat, but won after the postal ballots were factored in. Kirtikar of Shiv Sena (UBT) got 4,51,095 EVM votes against 4,51,094 of Waikar. Then, as the postal ballots were counted, the situation flipped. Waikar got 1,550 votes via postal ballots and Kirtikar got 1,501. The final count stood at Waikar’s 4,52,644 and Kirtikar’s 4,52,596.

For the better part of the counting day (June 4) , Waikar and Kirtikar had a close battle, with a margin of less than 100 votes. Around 5 pm, after EVM counting, Kirtikar was leading by just one vote. At 6.30 pm, Waikar demanded that the rejected ballot votes be recounted. The Returning Officer allowed it and soon after, Waikar was leading by 48 votes.

The ETPBS was used for the first time in 2019. The ETPBS enabled 18,02,646 service voters to register their votes in the 2019 elections. While in 2014, there were 13,27,627 registered service electors

Postal ballots are counted before EVM votes. As per EC guidelines, the counting of postal ballots begins 30 minutes before EVM counting. Although EVM counting can proceed without completing postal ballot counting, the final EVM results should not be announced before finalising postal ballot counts. The changes were introduced in 2019 that led to an increase in postal ballots.