EVM Hacked: MP Used Phone's OTP To Unlock EVM

Hours after tech mogul Elon Musk reignited a debate on the vulnerability of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), sevaral reports emerged stating a case was filed against the kin of a newly elected Mumbai North West Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Waikar for allegedly using a mobile phone connected to the EVMs. 

Two factions of Shiv Sena fought the Mumbai North West seat in the recent Lok Sabha elections and the Eknath Shinde-led party’s candidate Waikar won the seat by 48 votes. 

According to reports, Waikar’s brother-in-law Mangesh Pandilkar allegedly used a mobile phone which was used to generate an OTP to unlock an electronic voting machine at a NESCO counting centre on June 4. The police have sent the mobile phone to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to find the mobile phone data and call records.

"Pandilkar was booked on the complaint of polling personnel Dinesh Gurav. An independent candidate noticed the former using a mobile phone despite a ban on such devices at the counting centre and alerted the returning officer. The Returning Officer, in turn, approached Vanrai police," the police official was quoted by PTI as saying.

Meanwhile, Waikar downplayed the whole episode. He said the UBT faction is not able to digest their defeat and unncessarily making the noise. I don’t give any attention to them.

We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024

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