Petition filed in SC seeking direction for EC to ensure safety,security of EVMs in post poll phase

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction for Election Commission (EC) to ensure safety and security of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) so that these are not tampered with in the post-poll period.

The petition filed by M Srinivasan, an advocate and president of Tamil Nadu Annal Ambedkar Law Association, said the mandate of EC was not only to conduct free and fair elections but to act without fear or favour while doing it.

Democracy is the basic structure of the Constitution and free and fair elections form the basic element of democracy. If the potential threat of tampering EVM during post poll is going unchecked, then it will be a death blow to democracy, said the plea.

"The apprehension of the petitioner is about the possibility of tampering with the EVMs during post-poll period since it is possible to tamper the EVMs in broad daylight and it is very much possible to tamper it during post-poll situations since the post-poll period is a dark period in which EVMs have very less access to the outer world except to a limited administrative functionaries," petition stated.

The petitioner submitted that to substantiate his allegations about the partial and weak knee conduct of EC also wants to bring to the knowledge of the court about a letter that was written by 66 former bureaucrats and ambassadors to the President of India questioning the impartial functioning of the Commission.