Here's all you need to know about 48-vote case involving Sena MP Ravindra Waikar

In the closely contested 2024 Lok Sabha elections Shiv Sena candidate Ravindra Waikar emerged victorious in the Mumbai North West constituency by a razorthin margin of just 48 votes However recent developments have cast a shadow over this narrow winOn June 4 during the votecounting process at the NESCO center in Goregaon a mobile phone was found inside the restricted areaThe controversy began when Mangesh Pandilkar a relative of Shiv Sena candidate Ravindra Waikar was seen using a mobile phone at the NESCO Center during vote countingIdeally only ENCORE operators returning officers RO and a few other EC officials are allowed to take their mobile phones inside centers during the counting of votesSuchitra Krunal Amle Patil an additional assistant election adjudicating officer reported the violation According to the police official in her complaint Patil informed the cops that Gurav an ENCORE poll portal operator gave his mobile phone to Pandilkar inside the NESCO center despite being aware of the rulesSurinder Mohan Arora from the Bharat Jan Aadhar Party immediately reported this to Vanrai police and requested an FIRThe cops registered the FIR against Pandilkar and Gurav under Sections 188 and 134 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 134 of the Representation of the People ActA senior officer from Mumbai police told me midday that the counting hall falls under RO Vandana Suryavanshirsquos jurisdictionThe FIR registration was reportedly delayed When asked about the delay in FIR registration the police officer explained ldquoThe jurisdiction is crucial The complainant should be from the ROrsquos office for a fair investigationrdquoldquoWersquore being cautious as it involves the Election Commission Once the FIR is filed we can retrieve call records and analyze the phonerdquo the officer addedThe police officials accused the returning officer RO of not cooperating in the matter by not sharing the CCTV footage of the counting hall where Pandilkar was reportedly seen using a mobile phone which was banned by the ECIHowever when talking to Midday with Midday Returning Officer Vandana Suryawanshi confirmed that Mumbai police requested the CCTV footage on June 11 and asked for a complainant to register a caseDespite the delays on June 13 the Vanrai police registered an FIR against Mangesh Vasant Pandilkar for allegedly using a mobile phone inside the center in Goregaon amid vote countingThe cops also booked Dinesh Gurav for allegedly giving his device to PandilkarDuring investigations the Vanrai police found that the accused Mangesh Pandilkar a relative of Ravindra Waikar was using the phone which was connected to the Electronic Voting Machines EVMsPolice said this mobile phone was used for generating the OTP that unlocked the EVM machine which was used inside the NESCO Center on June 4The police have now sent the mobile phone to the Forensic Science Laboratory FSL to find the mobile phone data and are also taking fingerprints that are on the phoneThe complainant Amol Kirtikar a SenaUBT candidate had requested a recount of votes and planned to file an election petition in courtDuring the counting of votes through the EVM machine the candidate Amol Kirtikar was ahead but when the votes on the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System were counted Kirtikar lagged behind eventually losing the race to WaikarAccording to the latest updates Vandana Suryawanshi in a press conference on June 16 said that the CCTV of the vote counting hall cannot be provided without any orders from the Competent courtSuryawanshi when asked about the OTP system in the EVM she said There is no OTP generated in the EVM It is non communicable device EVM is a stand alone machine