Arora Surinder Mohan, the Bharat Jan Aadhar Party candidate from Mumbai North-West, has registered a complaint with Vanrai police station against an individual for allegedly using a mobile phone inside the counting centre at NESCO on June 4. The police said they are investigating the matter and will soon file an FIR. According to the complainant, the individual is close to a prominent politician.
Amol Kirtikar, a Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate, has already raised objections to the counting procedure and is preparing an appeal against Ravindra Waikar's winning result in the Bombay High Court. According to a police source, on June 4, the individual was roaming inside NESCO Centre.
Other candidates' representatives found him using a mobile phone inside the counting centre. The complainant approached the counting officers, who suggested he approach the police.
Subsequently, the complainant filed a case at the Vanrai police station. As per Election Commission guidelines, using electronic devices such as phones, laptops, tablet computers and calculators during the counting process is strictly prohibited.
However, the individual allegedly violated these principles by possessing a mobile phone. Kirtikar stated, "I did not file this complaint, another candidate did. I was not inside the counting centre, so I did not know about it. I did not see him personally and did not recognise him."
"I will appeal the result of my constituency in the high court. I am preparing for that. The counting process was doubtful. After the 14th round, the Election Commission officers did not distribute printouts of the counting numbers to candidates representatives. After the 19th round, the counting was stopped for almost one-and-ahalf hours without any explanation. Then, within half an hour, the officers declared the numbers, back to back. Before declaring the result, the officer did not ask the candidates representatives if anyone had objections. The officer was silent for five minutes and then declared the result."
"When we asked for video footage of the counting centre, they did not provide it. The day before yesterday, no one was at the office. The authorities are not cooperating with us," he added.
Senior Inspector Rampyare Rajbhar stated: The individual is the counting representative of a Lok Sabha candidate. We have a list of those who were allowed to use mobile phones at the centre during counting. We are investigating whether the mobile belongs to the individual or someone else. Further legal action will be taken accordingly
