A view of the Supreme Court of India. file Photo Credit: The Hindu
A petition filed by five-time former MLA Karan Singh Dalal, who is contesting Haryana Legislative Assembly elections in 2024, to direct the Election Commission of India to prepare a policy or memorandum to check and verify the original burn memory or microcontroller of electronic voting. Machines (EVMs) were shuttled to the third consecutive bench in the Supreme Court of India on Friday. (December 20, 2024.)
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna said that the petition will be heard by a bench headed by Justice Dipankar Dutt.
On December 13, a bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath, before which the petition came up, recused itself from hearing the case after it opined that it should be heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice Khanna. This opinion was based on the fact that Justice Khanna (as he was) had delivered a hearing and judgment on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in April 2024. Justice Dutta was the judge in the bench headed by Justice Khanna. At the Association for Democratic Reforms issue in April.
Represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocates Neha Rathi and Pranav Sachdeva, Mr. Dalal argued that the control unit should not have original burn memory/microcontroller, ballot paper unit, voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) and token loading unit). is deleted. The petition said that EVMs and VVPATs should be kept in safe custody.
A bench of Justices Khanna and Dutt in its April 26 verdict upheld the EVM system of voting while rejecting the plea to revive paper ballots. The court said that “superstition” of an institution or system created unnecessary suspicion and hindered progress.
In a separate directive, the Supreme Court had ordered that from May 1, 2024, the Symbol Loading Units (SLU) should be sealed and protected after completion of the process of loading the symbol in the VVPAT. Each SLU shall be sealed in a special container in the presence of the candidates or their representatives, who shall affix their signatures on the seal. Containers with EVMs will have to be kept in the strong room for 45 days after the announcement of the election results.
The judgment directed that the burn memory of the microcontroller of five percent of the EVMs in each assembly constituency of the parliamentary constituencies, including the control unit, ballot box, VVPAT, etc., can be checked and verified by a team of EVM engineers. Manufacturers in case of any suspicion of tampering.
“The exercise shall commence on the written request of the candidates standing second or third in the tally of winners,” the decision said. Applicants will verify the EVM or identify the polling station. Application for verification must be made within seven days of the declaration of election results.
“The district election officer concerned shall, in consultation with a team of engineers, verify the authenticity or integrity of the burn memory of the microcontrollers of the EVMs,” the April judgment directed.
“The cost of certification shall be borne by the applicant candidates or their representatives. If the EVMs are found to be tampered with, they will be returned,” the court directed.
published – Dec 20, 2024 01:29 pm IST