Amid EVM Row, Aaditya Thackeray Claims Shiv Sena (UBT) Won Mumbai North West LS Seat, Will Move Court

Former Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray claimed during a press conference on Monday that Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction won the Lok Sabha elections froma the Mumbai North West constituency, and that Ravindra Waikar was wrongly declared as the winner. Thackeray said that the party will go to court regarding this issue.

The Mumbai North West constituency witnessed a tough fight between both the Shiv Sena factions. While Ravindra Waikar represented Eknath Sinde's Shiv Sena and Amol Kirtikar was fielded from Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT).

Notably, Ravindra Waikar bagged the Mumbai North-West seat by a margin of merely 48 votes.

This comes amid the ongoing row that was triggered after Elon Musk's tweet on EVM hacking.

Earlier today, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde stated that the allegations of EVM tampering being made by the opposition were wrong and that they were trying to spread misinformation.

"We have won the seat contested by Amol Kirtikar (Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Mumbai North West) and we will definitely go to court...," Thackeray claimed at the press conference in Mumbai, news agency ANI reported.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader also raised questions on the integrity of the Election Commission saying, "Election Commission has been easily compromised."

Aaditya Thackeray further stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party would not have crossed even 40 seats had the polling not been carrued out through EVMs. "If there was no EVM, BJP would not have won 240...They would not have won even 40 seats," he claimed.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab who also attended the press conference, alleged that the irregularities in vote counting began after the Amol Kirtikar's 19th round of vote.

Explaining the details about the alleged malpractice, Parab stated: "There are a total of 14 tables at the counting place of every MP's seat..every EVM counting table has an ARO i.e. assistant returning officer...After every round of counting, the final information is given to the ARO..but after 19 rounds of counting, the ARO was not informed."

After 19 rounds, the announcement of votes was not made following the counting, Parab said.

He even said that the election officer was frequently visiting the washroom and was receiving "repeated calls" on his phone.

As per the rules, the use of mobile phones is restricted at counting centres.

Questioning why polling staff Dinesh Gurav allowed Pandilkar to enter the counting station, Parab said "Look at the background of the RO (Suryavanshi)...How many allegations are there against her?"

Parab further went on to claim that the poll body did not share the CCTV footage of that particular counting centre yet.

"We demand from the Election Commission that this entire matter be investigated..and Amol Kirtikar be declared the winner..this is our demand. We will file an appeal in the court in the next 2-3 days...we will challenge the victory of Ravindra Waikar," the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.

The Returning Officer stated that the matter at Mumbai North West Constituency Counting Centre pertains to a candidate's aide using the mobile phone of an authorised person.

On Sunday, the returning officer for the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat had refuted claims of EVM tampering, saying that the EVM is a self-contained device, which does not require any mobile OTP to unlock it since it is non-programmable.