SC rejects plea seeking replacement of EVMs with ballot papers in upcoming LS elections

A bench led by justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih on Friday refused to entertain a plea alleging irregularities in the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), saying every method has its plus and minus points, Reports ETV Bharat Sumit Saxena.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea alleging irregularities in the functioning of EVMs, saying how many times should the court entertain such petitions and every method has its plus and minus points.

A bench led by justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih said the court has already dealt with several issues related to the functioning of EVMs. The bench said, “How many petitions shall we entertain? Recently, we have dealt with a plea related to VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail)”.

The bench made it clear to the petitioner Nandini Sharma, who appeared in person, that it cannot go by assumptions and pointed out that every method has its plus and minus points. “Sorry, we cannot entertain this under Article 32,” the bench told the petitioner. The petitioner had arrayed the Election Commission of India and six political parties in her plea. She requested the court to issue a direction for the use of ballot papers instead of EVMs for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

The bench told the petitioner that nearly a dozen cases have been examined on the issue by the court at different times. The petitioner also sought setting aside Section 61A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951 which allows use of voting machines for elections.

Meanwhile, another bench led by Justice BR Gavai dismissed another petition filed by the Indian New Congress Party (INCP). This plea claimed that 19 lakh EVMs “missing” from the custody of the poll panel could be used to manipulate the results of the upcoming general election. The bench told the petitioner that its apprehensions were completely baseless.

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