New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 11) sought the response of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on pleas seeking directions to the poll body to allow verification of the burnt memory and Symbol Loading Units (SLU) of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in accordance with top court’s last year verdict.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanhiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta, while hearing the pleas, directed the ECI to not erase or reload the data in the EVMs while carrying out the verification and asked it to file its response within 15 days and explain the procedure adopted.
The bench also expressed its displeasure over suppression of the fact relating to a similar petition which was dismissed as withdrawn and said that it would not hear a fresh plea filed by former Haryana minister and five-time MLA Karan Singh Dalal, who has sought a policy for the verification of EVMs.
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Apex court issued notices to ECI on the interim applications
The bench issued notices to ECI on the interim application filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and a losing candidate Sarv Mitter.
ADR has said in a fresh plea that the ECI’s standard operating procedure for the verification of the EVMs was not in accordance with the last year judgement passed on its petition in the EVM-VVPAT case.
“What we want is for someone to examine the software and hardware of the EVMs to see whether they contain any element of manipulation,” Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the ADR, submitted.
What did the apex court say?
The bench said that what the top court intended by its last year judgment was to ensure that the EVM machine is verified and checked by an engineer from an engineer from the manufacturing company after the polls and did not intend to erase or reload data in the EVMs.
“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 microchips. That’s all. Why do you erase the data?” CJI Khanna said and added, “We didn’t want such a detailed process that you reload something. Do not erase the data, do not reload the data — all you need to do is have someone verify and examine.”
Reduce cost of Rs 40,000, bench told ECI
The bench also told the ECI counsel that Rs 40,000, the amount fixed by the ECI as the cost for verification of EVMs, was too high and said that it would reduce the cost.
“Reduce the cost of 40,000 — that’s too high,” the bench told ECI counsel.
The matter has been posted for further hearing in the week commencing March 3.
