New Delhi, July 29: The Supreme Court refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) questioning continued use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) for holding elections in the country.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishanan and Justice P Sadasivam told the petitioner to approach the Election Commission of India.
The Apex Court merely refused to entertain the petition filed by one V.V. Rao, an engineer by profession who is also a member of the Hyderabad-based Election Watch Group and did not reject it, which would have put a lid over the raging contentious issue that EVMs can be manipulated to obtain a favourable result to help a candidate or political party.
The petitioner wanted the Supreme Court to issue a directive to the Union Government to set up an expert committee to examine if EVMs were tamperproof.
Leader of the Opposition Lal Krishna Advani added fuel to the fire earlier this month by demanding the reintroduction of the traditional ballot papers.
“We should revert to ballot papers unless the Election Commission is able to ensure that EVMs are foolproof and every possibility of their malfunctioning is taken care of,” Advani had said.
Incidentally, Advani’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had projected him as the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, emerged badly battered in the May general elections with the Congress party-led ruling coalition retaining power with increased majority.
The Election Commission promptly rejected the demand with Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi saying that the poll panel was absolutely satisfied with EVMs and that a technical committee headed by former Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) director P.V. Indiresan, appointed by a parliamentary sub-committee was in place to ensure foolproof functioning of EVMs.
Several parties including the PMK of Tamil Nadu have since moved various courts over the continued use of EVMs.
History: Technology to fore
– The idea of using Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was first mooted in India by the Election Commission in 1977 in order to cut down on expenses.
– Two public sector companies Bharat Electronic Limited and Electronics Corporation of India came out with their user-friendly models in 1980.
– The Election Commission started using EVMs on a trial basis before doing away with ballot papers in a phased manner.
– An EVM costs approximately $300 (Dh1,100), and more than a million units were used in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
– Use of EVMs make the election process fast since counting of votes ÿcan be completed within a couple of hours. The wastage is avoided since the same EVMs can be used for fresh elections.
– Many countries around the world, including Germany have banned use of EVMs due to doubts about their authenticity.
– India is expected to have spent more than Rs100 billion (Dh7.6 billion) on this year’s Lok Sabha elections. Use of ballot papers can push the cost of holding elections much higher.
-Agencies