NEW DELHI: Noting that it was only losing candidates who suspected tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking that voting be done through paper ballot and asked the petitioner to raise his grievances before the appropriate authority.
“What happens is, if you win the elections, EVMs are not tampered. When you lose elections, EVMs are tampered,” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale said. Petitioner K A Paul, who argued himself, said most countries had gone back to paper ballot voting as EVMs could be tampered with. He tried to convince the court to at least issue a notice to the EC.
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SC: Suspicion of EVM fixing ‘unfounded’
Trying to convince the court to at least issue notice on his plea pushing for paper ballot and seek response from Election Commission, the petitioner said even Tesla chief Elon Musk had recently said that EVMs could be tampered. Underscoring that political parties had also started doubting EVMs, he said Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu had said in 2018 that EVMs could be tampered with and now his opponent Jagan Mohan Reddy was making the same allegation. “When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now, this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy has lost, he said EVMs can be tampered,” the bench said.
The petitioner also highlighted other flaws like cash and liquor distribution in the election process and sought the court’s intervention to check it. He said EC had seized Rs 9,000 crore so far this year. In April, SC had dismissed a batch of petitions seeking a return to the paper ballot system. Terming the suspicion of manipulation of EVMs “unfounded”, the court had then rejected the demand for reverting to the old system, saying the polling devices were “secured” and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting.