EC rejects dismissed police officer’s claims of EVM tampering in Maharashtra Assembly polls

The Election Commission has rejected claims made by dismissed Maharashtra Police officer Ranjeet Kasale that Electronic Voting Machines were tampered with during the 2024 Assembly election to favour Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde.

Describing Kasale as a “disgruntled police officer”, the poll body emphasised that “there is no possibility of removal of EVMs [from strong rooms]”. It also ordered disciplinary action against Kasale, who was last posted with the Beed cyber police.

Speaking to reporters in Pune on Thursday, Kasale claimed that Rs 10 lakh was deposited into his bank account on November 23, the day that Maharashtra went to the polls. He said he returned Rs 7.5 lakh after using Rs 2.5 lakh for personal expenses.

Kasale alleged that the payment was a bribe to buy his silence about the removal of EVMs from a strong room in the state’s Parli constituency in Beed district. The seat was won by Munde, who was later appointed as a Cabinet minister.

“I was put on duty in Parli during the polling,” Kasale says in a video that has been widely shared online by Opposition party leaders. “[Dhananjay] Munde won the election unfairly. This truth should be known to the public.”

Munde resigned in March amid growing calls for him to step down...

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