Supreme Court
– Photo: ANI
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The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the petitions regarding 100 percent matching of EVM votes with VVPAT slips. The bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta said that blindly doubting any system can create doubt towards any system.
Supreme Court gave these instructions to the Election Commission
The bench said that ‘a balanced perspective is important. Blindly doubting any system can create doubt towards that system. There is a need for meaningful criticism, whether it is the judiciary or the legislature. Democracy is about maintaining harmony and trust among all the pillars. By promoting a culture of trust and cooperation, we can strengthen the voice of our democracy. Along with rejecting the petitions related to EVM, the Supreme Court has also issued two instructions to the Election Commission. Under the first instructions, the court has said that after loading the election symbols in the EVM, the Election Commission should seal the election symbol loading unit and keep it in a safe place. These sealed containers should be kept in a secure store room along with the EVMs for 45 days after the declaration of election results.
EVM can be checked on written demand of candidates
The court also directed that after the elections at the constituency, the memory semiconductors used in five percent of the EVM machines, including the control unit, ballot unit and VVPAT along with the EVM, should be checked by the engineers of the EVM manufacturing company. Candidates standing second and third can be examined on written demand. This demand can be made within seven days of the declaration of election results. The candidate demanding the inquiry will have to bear its cost and if the allegation of EVM tampering is proved true, the Election Commission will have to refund the cost to the candidate.
Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court demanding installation of VVPAT machines along with EVMs and 100 percent matching of EVM votes with VVPAT slips. At present, matching of EVM and VVPAT slips is done only with any five EVM machines at each seat. Earlier, the Supreme Court said that it is not the authority to control the elections nor can it give orders to the Election Commission, a constitutional body. When lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing in the Supreme Court on behalf of NGO ADR, raised questions on EVMs, the court said in the last hearing that ‘If you have already made up your mind, then we cannot help you in this. We are not here to change your thinking process.