“Daal Me Kala Hai? .. Supreme Court Orders ECI Probe Into Kasaragod Mock Poll”
NEW DELHI: Responding to a flurry of pleas advocating for comprehensive cross-verification of votes cast via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) alongside Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), the Supreme Court of India, on Thursday, deferred its judgment after considering the Election Commission’s (ECI) stance.
A panel comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta concluded the hearing after reviewing the ECI’s rebuttal to the petitions.
The apex court also instructed the Election Commission to investigate claims from one of the petitioners asserting that EVMs had erroneously tallied votes in favor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a mock poll in Kerala’s Kasaragod district.
Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Gopal Sankararanarayanan represented the petitioners during the proceedings. Bhushan referenced a media report detailing mock poll results from Kerala, where purported surplus votes for the BJP were recorded. According to the report, on April 17, at least four Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) inaccurately registered votes for the BJP during mock polling in Kasaragod.
The bench apprised Maninder Singh, the counsel representing the ECI, to investigate these allegations thoroughly.
Meanwhile, the ECI refuted the claims in the Supreme Court on Thursday, categorically stating that the allegations of EVMs displaying additional votes during a mock poll in Kerala’s Kasaragod were baseless.
“These news reports are false. We have verified the allegation with the district collector, and it appears they are unfounded. We will furnish a comprehensive report to the court,” asserted senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas before the bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta.
Vyas, present in the courtroom, provided insights into the EVMs’ functionality to the bench.
On April 16, the Supreme Court had criticized disparagement of EVMs and calls for a return to ballot papers, emphasizing that India’s electoral process is a monumental endeavor, and endeavors should not be made to undermine the system.
Concurrently, the petitioners have pressed for a reversal of the Election Commission’s 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque one, allowing voters to view the slip solely when the light remains illuminated for seven seconds.
