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Informist, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – Directing the Election Commission of India to not delete or reload data in the burnt memory or microcontroller of electronic voting machines for the time being, the Supreme Court Tuesday asked the poll panel to file a short affidavit explaining its standard operating procedure to verify votes cast on the machines. Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna also said the cost of INR 40,000 per machine fixed by the panel for verification was too high and pushed for a reduction.

 

The court was hearing an application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms seeking a direction to the Election Commission to allow verification of the burnt memory and symbol-loading units of electronic voting machines in the standard operating procedure. The association said the standard operating procedure framed by the panel for verification of electronic voting machines was not in accordance with the court's verdict delivered before the general election last year.

 

The Supreme Court had, in April, rejected petitions seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast on electronic voting machines with the paper slips generated through the voter-verifiable paper audit trail. It had also rejected petitions seeking a return to the use of ballot papers in elections, and dismissed the idea of allowing voters to take the voter-verifiable paper audit trail slip and deposit it in ballot boxes.

 

The court had, however, directed that after the completion of the symbol-loading process, the symbol-loading unit should be sealed. "...on completion of the symbol loading process in the electronic voting machine undertaken on or after May 1, the symbol loading unit should be sealed and secured in containers. The candidates and their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the symbol loading units shall be kept in the store rooms along with the electronic voting machines at least for 45 days post the declaration of results," the court had said. Candidates who secured second and third positions in the general election could request verification of the burnt memory or microcontroller in 5% of electronic voting machines per assembly segment in a parliamentary constituency, the court had said.

 

The Association for Democratic Reforms said the standard operating procedure issued by the commission lacks guidelines to check and verify the burnt memory or microcontroller of electronic voting machines and symbol-loading units. Instead, the procedure involves deleting the original data of the burnt memory and microcontroller, rendering any verification of real election data impossible, it said.

 

"What we intended was that if, after the polls, somebody asks, the engineer should come and certify that according to him in their presence, there is no tampering in any of the burnt memory or the microchips stock. That's all. Why do you erase the data?" Chief Justice Khanna said.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Nishant Maher

 

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