In its ruling on Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) that sought directions for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to introduce ballot paper in place of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). A bench led by Justices Vikram Nath and P.B. Varale declined the prayer seeking a return to the ballot system as it believed EVMs manipulated.
"When you lose, EVMs are tampered with; when you win, EVMs are fine," said the apex court, when the petitioner referred to the statements made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy on EVMs. It said, "When Chandrababu Naidu or Mr Reddy lost, they say that EVMs can be tampered with; when they win, they don't say anything. We are dismissing this.". This is not the place where you argue all of this.
Earlier, in March, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a similar PIL seeking directions to conduct the Lok Sabha polls through ballot paper. "How many petitions shall we entertain? We cannot go by assumptions. Every method has its plus and minus points. We cannot entertain this," it told the petitioner, the General Secretary of the Congress' Mathura District Committee.
"How many petitions shall we entertain? We cannot go by assumptions. Every method has its plus and minus points. We cannot entertain this," it told the petitioner, the General Secretary of the Congress' Mathura District Committee.
In her plea, petitioner in person Nandini Sharma said that "the concerns of the Opposition parties about the EVMs must be first addressed by holding elections via ballot paper, in place of acting at the pleasure of ruling BJP."
Nandini Sharma prayed to set aside Section 61A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 empowering the ECI to conduct elections through EVMs.
"The additional love and care of the ruling party towards EVMs raises a question over the working of the EVM machines because as per election results, they must remain the same, whether it was done using EVMs or ballot papers," the PIL had argued.
In April this year, dismissing a bunch of petitions seeking the mandatory cross-verification of the votes cast with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, the Supreme Court observed that raising repeated and persistent doubts on EVMs, without supporting evidence, could have the contrarian impact of creating distrust and may reduce citizen participation and confidence in elections.
In his judgment, Justice Sanjiv Khanna-the current Chief Justice of India today said, "The suspicion that the EVMs can be configured or manipulated for the repeated or wrong recording of the vote(s) to favour a particular candidate should be rejected.
We certainly acknowledge the right of voters to question working of EVMs, which are but an electronic device that has a direct impact on election results. However, it is equally important to exercise care and caution when we raise aspersions on the integrity of the electoral process.".
"Repeated and persistent doubts and despair, even without supporting evidence, can have the contrarian impact of creating distrust. This can reduce citizen participation and confidence in elections, essential for a healthy and robust democracy."
The apex court had said that while it acknowledges the fundamental right of voters to ensure their vote is accurately recorded and counted, the same cannot be equated with the right to 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips, or a right to physical access to the VVPAT slips, which the voter should be permitted to put in the drop box.
It said giving physical access to the VVPAT slips to the voters is "problematic and impractical" and will lead to misuse, malpractices and disputes.
Saying that the weakness of the ballot paper system is well-known and documented, it rejected the submission to return to the ballot paper system as "foible and unsound".
"We would be undoing electoral reforms by directing reintroduction of the ballot papers. EVMs offer significant advantages. They have effectively eliminated booth capturing by restricting the rate of vote casting to four votes per minute, thereby prolonging the time needed and thus checking the insertion of bogus votes.".
EVMs have eradicated the invalid votes which used to be a major problem with paper ballots and often gave rise to disputes at the counting table. Additionally, EVMs save paper usage and also offer less logistical challenges. Finally, they give administrative ease because the counting becomes faster and it reduces errors," SC added.
Association for Democratic Reforms, one of the petitioners had sought directives to revert to paper ballot system, or that VVPAT slip be given to the voter to verify and put in the ballot box for counting, and/or there should be 100 per cent counting of the VVPAT slips in addition to electronic counting by the control unit.
The PIL litigants further submitted that since there was a possibility of manipulation of the EVMs, the Apex Court should intervene and infuse confidence in the voters who must be informed that their franchise had been correctly recorded and counted.
Justice Dipankar Datta -- who authored a separate opinion, but "whole-heartedly" concurred with Justice Khanna's verdict -- said the prayer to revert to the "paper ballot system" reveals the real intention of the petitioning association to discredit the system of voting through the EVMs and thereby derail the electoral process that is underway, by creating unnecessary doubts in the minds of the electorate.
I have grave doubts as to the bona fides of the petitioning association when it seeks a reversion to the old order. Without regard to the fact that in the past efforts of the petitioning association in bringing about electoral reforms did yield fruit, the suggestion put forth seemed inexplicable," Justice Datta said.
In conclusion, he said the apprehensions of the petitioners are misplaced, and they have neither been able to demonstrate how the use of EVMs in elections violates the principle of free and fair elections nor have they been able to establish a fundamental right to 100 per cent VVPAT slips tallying with the votes cast.
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