EVM verification plea should go before bench that gave verdict in April: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday said the plea seeking a policy for verification of electronic voting machines should go before the same bench that delivered a verdict in April rejecting the demand for bringing back the old paper ballots.

When the plea on EVMs came up for hearing, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale told petitioner's counsel senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, "Why don't this matter go before the same bench?"  Sankaranarayanan informed the court about its April judgment on a batch of pleas over EVMs.

"That is what I am saying. It (plea) should go before the same bench," Justice Nath reiterated.

The bench further said, "To our understanding, the reliefs claimed by means of this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India would require interpretation/modification/implementation of the directions issued by this court vide judgement dated April 26, 2024 ..."  In its verdict on April 26, the apex court termed the suspicion of manipulation of the EVMs "unfounded" and said the polling devices were "secured" and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting.

The top court, however, opened a window for the aggrieved unsuccessful candidates securing second and third places in poll results while allowing them to seek verification of microcontroller chips embedded in five per cent EVMs per assembly constituency on a written request upon payment of a fee to the poll panel.

It asked the apex court registry to place the papers of the case before Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna for passing appropriate orders on whether the petition would be listed before the same bench or another bench.

The petition was filed by former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal and five-time MLA Lakhan Kumar Singla.

It sought compliance of the April 26 judgement of the top court delivered in the case of 'Association for Democratic Reforms versus Union of India'.

Dalal and Singla secured the second-highest votes in their respective constituencies and sought a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to implement a protocol for examining the original "burnt memory" or microcontroller of the four components of the EVM -- the control unit, ballot unit, VVPAT and symbol loading unit.

The top court had mandated that five per cent of the EVMs every assembly constituency should undergo verification by the engineers from EVM manufacturers after the election results were announced.

The petitioners said the poll panel has failed to issue any such policy, leaving the procedure for burnt memory verification unclear.

According to the petition, the current standard operating procedure issued by the EC only involves basic diagnostic tests and mock polls without scrutinising the burnt memory for tampering.

The petitioners said their plea did not challenge the election results but sought a robust mechanism for EVM verification.

Separate election petitions challenging the results are pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petitioners have urged the Supreme Court to direct the EC to conduct the verification exercise within eight weeks.

The BJP won 48 out of 90 assembly seats in the recently held elections in Haryana.