Maharashtra
‘EVMs Cannot Be Hacked,’ Says Maharashtra’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kiran Kulkarni On Opposition Allegations

Mumbai: Amid the Opposition’s allegations regarding Electronic Voting Machines after the Maharashtra polls in which the ruling Mahayuti alliance registered a landslide victory, state’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kiran Kulkarni has asserted that EVMs cannot be hacked.
He said that the chips used in the EVMs are one-time programmable, making tampering impossible.
“I say this with full responsibility, EVM cannot be hacked. EVM cannot be tampered with. There is a simple reason for this. First, it is a standalone machine …no connection with any network or outer gadget. So, hacking or tampering is not possible. Second, the chip used in it is one-time programmable, so there cannot be any reprogramming,” Kulkarni told ANI on Tuesday.
He further said that there was no need for misunderstandings regarding EVMs since Election Commission of India (ECI) dictates a procedure that allows for matching of the Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) count and votes a candidate has received through EVMs.
This process is observed to ensure there was no discrepancy in these figures, Kulkarni said, while adding that this procedure of comparing the number of votes through VVPAT slips and EVM votes is undertaken before the declaration of the final results.
“There seems to be a lot of misunderstandings among political parties and common citizens regarding EVM. But there is no need for such misunderstandings…When votes are counted and the counting of votes of all EVMs concludes, after that, before the declaration of the result there is a procedure which is prescribed by the Election Commission of India. The procedure says that a lottery is drawn by collecting numbers of all the polling stations in the Assembly constituencies. This lottery is drawn in the presence of the Observer and representatives of all candidates of political parties. Of these, 5 polling stations are selected and VVPAT machines for the 5 polling stations are brought to the counting area. In the presence of everyone, the VVPAT slips are taken out and counted. Which candidate got how many votes as per the slips is counted. This number is matched with the votes voted through EVMs. This is observed that there is no discrepancy in these two figures…The voting in Maharashtra Assembly elections was done in the proper manner by following proper procedure…” Kulkarni said.
Maharashtra Chief Election Office S Chockalingam Rejects Opposition Allegations
Earlier, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) S Chockalingam on Tuesday rejected Opposition allegations regarding the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the Maharashtra assembly elections and said “no mismatch” was found between the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT) slips with their corresponding EVM numbers.
In a statement, the Maharashtra CEO explained that, as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, it is mandatory to count VVPAT slips from five randomly selected polling stations in each assembly constituency.
“VVPAT Slip count of randomly selected five polling stations per Assembly Constituency was conducted on November 23, during the counting procedure, in front of the Counting Observer / Representatives of Candidates. As per that, the slip count of 1440 VVPAT units from 288 Assembly Constituencies of Maharashtra State has been tallied with respective Control Unit data,” Chockalingam said.
“There is no discrepancy found between the VVPAT slip count and EVM Control unit count as per the reports received from the concerned DEOs,” Chockalingam added.
About The Row
This comes after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners raised questions about the legitimacy of EVMs following their defeat in the Maharashtra assembly election 2024.
The Mahayuti alliance, led by the BJP, secured a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections with the BJP emerging as the largest party with 132 seats in the 280-member Assembly, while its allies–the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, and the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar–won 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
However, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback as Congress won only 16 seats, while its alliance partners, Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured just 10 seats.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra: Conspiracy to spread religious hatred foiled, one arrested

Mumbai: Uncovering a conspiracy to spread religious hatred in Mumbai, Maharashtra, the cyber department has claimed to have arrested a chartered accountant who tried to disturb law and order by circulating derogatory images of Hindu deities on social media. After this, the police took the matter seriously and solved the case. Maharashtra Cyber has claimed to have arrested a person for insulting Hindu deities and making obscene images viral on social media. The arrest has been made in the case of spreading religious hatred and trying to create unrest on social media. Maharashtra Cyber has registered a case under sections 1963, 294, 299 of the BNS and the IT Act. The accused has also shared obscene and nude images and videos of Hindu deities on social media and websites, which created a problem of order and discipline.
After the arrest of the accused, his mobile phone has been sent for forensic examination. Along with this, 6 X-accounts have also been identified on which Hindu deities were insulted and obscene images were made viral. In this case, 7 Twitter X-accounts have also been identified, which are fake accounts. This action was taken to spread religious hatred and unrest in Maharashtra, along with disturbing law and order. Maharashtra Cyber has taken action in this case where pictures and videos of deities were made viral to deify them. The accused has been identified as a 39-year-old chartered accountant and further investigation has been initiated, informed Additional DG of Maharashtra Cyber Cell, Yashasvi Yadav.
Maharashtra
BJP leader Navneet Rana in a state of shock after receiving death threats from Pakistan

Mumbai: BJP leader and former MP Navneet Rana has received a death threat from a Pakistani number, after which the Mumbai Police has started investigating the matter. The threatening message states that the Hindu lioness who recites Hanuman Chalisa is a short-term guest and will be flying soon. Navneet Rana has informed the Mumbai Police about this and the police have taken steps in its investigation. All the phone calls have been received from a Pakistani number. Navneet Rana has reported this to the Khar Police Station.
Last year, Navneet Rana had also received a threat. This threatening message was sent on WhatsApp in the form of a video clip and this threat was received from Afghanistan, Pakistan. Now Navneet Rana has received a threat again from Pakistan. Two days ago, Navneet Rana had issued a statement against Pakistan praising Operation Sindoor and said that they have entered the house and killed you, they have dug your grave, After this, Navneet Rana has now received threatening calls from a Pakistani number. The police have started investigating and are trying to find out from which number the call was made and whose number the call was received from. After receiving the threatening message, the Mumbai police has now increased Navneet’s security and security has also been tightened at her house in Mumbai.
Maharashtra
Case registered against Muslim youth for posting Pakistani flag on Instagram in Kurla

Mumbai: In Mumbai’s Kurla Kasaiwada Quresh Nagar, the Chuna Bhatti police have claimed to have arrested a Muslim youth for posting the national flag of Pakistan on Instagram in support of the country. The Hindu Circle Samaj in Chuna Bhatti police had filed a complaint after the social media post and the post had also gone viral on social media in which it was written that this terrorist lives in Kasaiwada, Mumbai. Share this post so that he can be caught and a case of treason and treason can be filed against this jihadi. After this post went viral on social media, the Mumbai police also took action and after tracking down the youth, he arrested him.
During the police investigation, the young man admitted that he had posted the Pakistani flag on his Instagram account Sahil Khan. After the police action, the Instagram account has been deleted. However, the police have collected other details including the Instagram post. The police have registered a case against Sahil Khan under sections 152,153 of the BNS and further investigation is underway. Sahil Khan is also accused of waging war against the country and inciting it and spreading hatred and endangering the integrity of the country. The war between India and Pakistan has ended, but the Mumbai police is keeping an eye on the controversial post. Therefore, Muslim youth have been appealed to avoid controversial and anti-national posts. If anyone posts such a post, strict action will be taken against him and he will have to go behind bars. Sahil Khan’s arrest has been confirmed by Senior Inspector Nisha Jadhav of Mumbai’s Chuna Bhatti Police Station and said that he has been arrested after registering a complaint and further investigation is underway.
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