National News

Mid-Day’s ‘Tiny’ Clarification Exposes Hypocrisy After Peddling Fake News On ‘OTP to Unlock EVM’

June 17, 2024
The Commune

On 16 June 2024, Mid-Day newspaper published an article titled “Waikar’s kin had phone that unlocks EVM“. In the report written by a reporter named Shirish Vaktania, the byline read “Police are investigating how the accused got hold of a phone that received OTP that unlocked machine“

Image Source: OpIndia

The article right from the get-go reeked of fake news – be it the headline, the byline, or the claims made inside the article.

It is noteworthy that Shiv Sena candidate Ravindra Waikar won the Mumbai Northwest Lok Sabha seat by 48 votes.

The article alleged that a relative, Mangaesh Pandilkar was using a phone that was connected to the EVM and that the police said that this mobile phone was used for generating the OTP that unlocked the EVM on 4 June 2024 (on counting day).

According to Mid-Day, “During the EVM vote counting, candidate Amol Kirtikar was leading, but when the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System votes were counted, Kirtikar fell behind, ultimately losing to Waikar.” The report insinuated that the Shiv Sena candidate’s relatives used a phone to manipulate the EVM and ETPBS results.

Several big handles and reporters shared this unverified fake news (only to delete them silently later).

On the same day, the Election Commission of India released a statement clarifying how Mid-Day misrepresented an incident involving an unauthorized phone at a counting center, falsely claiming the phone was used to unlock EVMs and Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System using OTPs.

After voting, EVMs are physically sealed, and authorized polling agents and officials sign the seals. The EVMs are stored securely, where candidate agents can keep watch. On counting day, EVMs are inspected by counting agents before being unsealed and results are checked by pressing a button.

There is no stage in the election process where EVMs are locked or unlocked remotely using OTPs. The EVMs are handled physically throughout the process. Therefore, the claim that a phone was used to unlock EVMs is entirely false.

The report also incorrectly suggested that the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System was similarly unlocked by the phone.

The report led to renewed attacks on EVMs on social media, with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi seizing on the report to criticize EVMs again.

While police are investigating the use of a phone inside the Mumbai counting center, the Mid-Day report was highly misleading. It falsely claimed that Mangesh Pandilkar used a phone to generate an OTP to unlock an EVM, a baseless assertion. EVMs are not networked and cannot be unlocked remotely with an OTP.

On 17 June 2024, Mid-Day admitted their report on the OTP unlocking of EVMs was incorrect. They published a tiny clarification on the front page beneath the ECI’s statement debunking the report. The clarification read, “The report ‘Waikar’s kin had a phone that unlocks EVM’ (pages 6, June 16) inadvertently erroneously mentioned that the accused person used his mobile phone to generate an OTP to unlock EVMs. The error is regretted.”

However, the manner in which the clarification was published raises questions about journalistic ethics. The clarification was so tiny and placed next to a large report on Salman Khan, making it likely to be missed by readers. It is noteworthy that the original report was on page 6 of that day’s issue and it was prominently featured. The clarification only came after the ECI issued a notice to Mid-Day. Additionally, Mid-Day has not posted any social media clarifications, and the report’s author, Shirish Vaktania, has not apologized for the misinformation.

The false report has been quietly removed from Mid-Day’s website.

(with inputs from OpIndia)

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