Waikar OTP Case: Returning officer says 'EVM non-programmable'
Mumbai: Vandana Suryavanshi, Returning officer of the Mumbai North West constituency, stated that OTP was not used for the purpose of unlocking the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) as it was non-programmable. The machine does not have any wireless or wired communication capabilities, she said. Suryavanshi was addressing the media at the Collector's office in Bandra on Sunday.
Suryavanshi said that EVM's were standalone devices with no external connectivity and therefore it has no One Time Password (OTP) system to unclock them. "We seal the machines after voting and open them with the signatures of the counting agents on them", she clarified. However, OTPs were required at the ENCORE system where the Election Commission (EC) data was updated and EVMs had no connection with this, she added.
Referring to the controversy surrounding Shiv Sena Candidate Ravindra Waikar, Vandana Suryavanshi said that "On June 4, during the counting of votes, a mobile phone was found inside the NESCO centre. We informed the police immediately to act accordingly. The complaint was raised by candidates Surinder Arora and Bharat Shah who caught Pandilkar with a phone, and we handed over the phone and Pandilkar to the police to take cognizable action". However, the Vanrai Police registered the FIR after June 11. Police later told the EC representatives that ENCORE operator Dinesh Gurav had given his phone to Pandilkar.
Speaking on the issues related to sharing the CCTV of the incident with the police, Suryavanshi said that it couldn't be done until an order from 'a competent court'. She said that after declaring of results on the counting day, Kirthikar and his party had only made a claim about their counting agent counting more votes than Ravindra Waikar. They had lodged a written complaint regarding this on the spot. She denied any manipulation happening inside the NESCO centre where the counting was held.
Stressing on the impossibility of any EVMs being hacked, the returning officer said that there was no mention of any OTPs in the FIR lodged by the EC. However, it mentioned about the ENCORE process. ENCORE is an online system where the assistant returning officer uses an OTP to generate data entries. That is why the EC had allowed mobile phones inside the NESCO center, she said. Suryavanshi stated that manual entry votes were also counted three times in the counting centre.
Collector Rajendra Shankar Kshirsagar was also present at the press meet.
During the Lok Sabha Election of 2024, Ravindra Waikar of Shiv Sena's Shindhe faction had won by a very low margin of 48 votes against Amol Kirtikar of the UBT faction in Mumbai North West. The controversy erupted when Mangesh Pandilkar, a counting agent and close relative of Waikar, was accused of operating a mobile phone inside the counting center on June 4. Surinder Arora from the Bharat Jan Aadhar Party and Bharat Khimji Shah from the Hindu Samaj Party had registered a complaint in this regard at the Vanrai police station and the police had confiscated the phone from Pandilkar.
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Karnataka plans 100-acre aqua park to boost fishing sector
Bengaluru: Karnataka is planning to set up a 100-acre integrated aqua park aimed at promoting fishing. The proposed park will offer end-to-end facilities, including fish farming, storage facilities and sports fishing.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald on Sunday, a senior official from the Karnataka Fisheries Department said the aqua park is part of a concept introduced by the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The idea is to develop hubs that support the entire fishing value chain from fish seed production and feed to processing and market access.
According to the plan, the aqua park will include nine major facilities like farming of fish food, generating of fish seeds, development of fish seeds, fish farming, cold processing units, development of ornamental fish for aquariums, well-equipped market, fish transport facilities, and sports fishing.
The fisheries department has shortlisted three locations for the project, Byndoor in Udupi, Malavalli in Mandya and Almatti in Bijapur. One of these locations will be finalised based on land availability, after which a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared and sent to the Union government for approval.
“We have received proposals for three locations. All of them have water bodies close by and hence there is a demand for fishing. However, space is the main criteria. If we are able to get 100 acres, we will go ahead and prepare a detailed project report (DPR) to be submitted to the central ministry,” DH quoted Dinesh Kumar Kaller, director, Karnataka fisheries department as saying.
At Malavalli, near Gaganachukki, around 75 acres of land has been identified and a request has been sent to the Revenue Department. The revenue department has said that the land belongs to the forest department and talks are on. We are also looking at other locations, Kaller reportedly said.
As per the report, at present, only 11 states have an aqua park approved under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and Karnataka is confident that its proposal would also be accepted soon.
