MUMBAI, JUN 16 :  Responding to allegation levelled by the members of opposition parties in Maharashtra that an EVM machine was hacked by a mobile phone in Mumbai suburb during the counting of votes resulting in the victory of Ravindra Waikar of Shiv Sena (Shinde), Returning officer Vandana Suryavanshi on Sunday issued a clarification saying that no such incident has occurred.

Addressing a press conference here, she said, “No OTP (one-time password) is needed to unlock EVM…. It has advanced technical features and there is no communication device on EVM…It is a technically full-proof system and EVM is a standalone system. It does not require any OTP.”

Her clarification came in response to the police case involving a relative of Waikar who allegedly used a mobile phone within a counting centre to unlock an EVM.

The FIR (first information report) was registered based on a complaint by Suchitra Patil, who was an assistant election officer.(UNI)