48-vote plot thickens: Mystery man with mobile inside counting centre

A Mysterious mobile phone found on votecounting day at the NESCO centre has kicked up a controversy with the Shiv Sena UBT candidate Amol Kirtikar who lost by only 48 votes accusing his rival Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar of manipulating poll results A staffer found in possession of the device banned inside counting centres is under scrutiny while police are scrutinising the phonersquos call recordsWaikar won the hotly contested Mumbai North West seat by a mere 48 votes Kirtikar claimed that the voting was stopped by a representative inside the NESCO centre between 330 pm and 530 pm when he was leading by 651 votes He alleged that the results were then declared stating that he had lost the contest by 48 votesKirtikarrsquos letter to the Election Commission of India demanding a probe in the matterKirtikar wrote a letter to the Election Commission requesting an investigation and a recount of votes to provide justice to him and votersThe guidelines of the Election Commission strictly prohibit the use of electronic devices such as cell phones laptops tablets and calculators during the counting processShiv Sena UBT candidate Amol Kirtikar at the NESCO centre in Goregaon East on June 4 PicSatej Shinde right Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar at his office PicAtul KambleShady businessA police source told midday ldquoThis representative was frequently going to the washroom during the vote counting This raised suspicions and the incharge of the NESCO centre informed the IAS officer present on the spot about the representativersquos actions The IAS officer checked him and found a mobile phone in his possession The officer immediately informed the Vanrai police seized the device and ordered an inquiry into the matterrdquoA police officer from the Vanrai police station said ldquoWe have seized the mobile phone and are scanning call records and data We suspect that the representative is close to a prominent politicianrdquoA police source said ldquoWe are conducting the investigation and waiting for the complainant to come to the police station We are checking CCTV footage The probe is being conducted by the senior police officerrdquoCandidateSpeakKirtikar told midday ldquoI was not present when the mobile phone was found inside the centre but he representative or someone else manipulated the counting of votes My agents were counting the votes and around 330 pm I was winning the election as I was leading by 651 votes Suddenly they stopped the count for about two hours At around 330 pm 26 rounds of counting were completed but they did not declare the results At around 530 pm they declared that I had lostrdquoHe added ldquoHow is it possible that at one point I was winning by 651 votes and when they declared the result I was behind by 48 votes I strongly object to this counting and suspect that manipulation was involved I have written a letter to the Election Commission to investigate the matter and recount the votes I have also demanded that the CCTV footage of the two hours when counting wasnrsquot happening at the centre be checked The culprit will be caughtrdquoldquoThe final results were declared around 754 pm and I raised an objection at 806 pm with a speaking order The Election Commission officer denied the speaking order and I gave a written complaint regarding the samerdquo he saidA list of those who were given permission to use mobile phones at the centre during the polling time is available with the police and the Election Commission However the representative who was allegedly using the phone did not have permission to carry one inside the centreWaikar was unavailable for comment by press timeReturning officer reactsThe returning officer at the centre Vandana Suryawanshi confirmed the mobile phone seizure She added that Kirtikar had raised suspicions after the counting was done but according to the rules a candidate must raise objections before the process is completedSuryawanshi said ldquoDuring the entire counting process no objections were raised by the counting representatives As per the rules at the end of each round the votes received by all candidates as well as the names of those leading were announced by the returning officerrdquoldquoWhile announcing the counting of the 25th round the counting of postal ballots was completed and after announcing the results of the 25th round and the end of the 25th round the result of the postal ballot round was announced In this Kirtikar received 1501 votes and Waikar received 1550 votes According to the rules the number of postal ballots is added at the end of all the Electronic Voting Machine counting rounds Therefore after the counting of the voting machines of the 26th round was completed the names of the three candidates leading in the voting machine counting at the end of the 26th round were announced In this Kirtikar was leading by one vote As per the rules after the 26th round the number of postal ballots was included and the votes were announced for each candidate In this Waikar was leading by 48 votesrdquo she saidAccording to the Election Commissionrsquos instructions if the difference in the number of votes between the two leading candidates is less than the number of rejected postal ballots at the end of the counting the returning officer is mandated to reexamine all the rejected postal ballots in the presence of all the candidates ldquoSince the number of rejected postal ballots was 111 all these rejected postal ballots were reexamined in the presence of the candidates The entire process was also video recorded After examination there was no difference in the number of counted postal ballotsrdquo she said452596Votes polled by Amol Kirtikar452644Ravindra Waikarrsquos vote count