Rahul Gandhi: Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed doubts about electronic voting machines (EVMs) once more. On Sunday, June 16, 2024, he posted on the social media platform X, which was formerly Twitter. In addition, he shared news about Ravindra Waikar, the candidate of the Shiv Sena Shinde faction, who has been accused of manipulating the EVMs to win.
Rahul Gandhi’s Critique of EVMs and Electoral Transparency
Rahul Gandhi wrote 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.”
Rahul Gandhi shared mid day story, which inspired him to write this Tweet. According to this Mid Day story, Mangesh Pandilkar, a relative of Ravindra Waikar, has been the target of many evidence discoveries by the Vanrai police during their investigation. Due to alleged EVM tampering by Mangesh Mandilkar, Waikar won the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 48 votes. Mangesh’s phone is said to have been linked to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) during the vote-counting process.
Alleged Use of Phone to Generate OTP for EVM Unlocking
According to the police, this phone was used to create the OTP needed to unlock the EVM machine. On June 4, this method was applied within the Nesco center. Additionally, suspects Mangesh Pandilkar and Dinesh Gurav—the Election Commission’s Encore (poll portal) operator—were served with a notice under CrPC 41A by Vanrai police. In order to track down the phone’s data, the police have since transferred it to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), where fingerprints are also being obtained.
