Two-judge bench to hear petition on EVM

Gauhati High Court Chief Justice, A.M. Sapre has appointed a two-judge bench comprising Portfolio Judge of Aizawl Bench Justice L.S. Jamir and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan to take up the petition submitted by the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) asking full inquiry into Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the last Mizoram assembly polls.
R. Thanga, registrar of the Gauhati Aizawl Bench told PTI that all the people connected with the petition were furnished with information on Friday last and the Sapre's appointment of the two judges were also notified.
C. Lalramzauva, advocate for the petitioners said that 23 unsuccessful MNF candidates filed the petition asking the High Court to form an expert committee to inquire into the possibilities of tampering the EVMs.

"It is a highly technical matter and should be inquired by experts whether the EVMs used in the election to the 40-member Mizoram legislature held on November 25 last year were tampered or could be tampered," Lalramzauva said.
The petitioners further pleaded that in the event the court finds out that the EVMs were tampered with, the Congress winners be disqualified and the closest rival candidates (MNF nominees) be declared as elected.
The petition cited a number of alleged instances while discrepancies were found in the number of votes polled and the number of votes counted from the EVMs.
They also said that while the MNF nominees were always winning in the postal ballots, they lost in the votes counted from the EVM.

"The votes polled in the postal ballots were always the trends in the earlier elections," they held.