The Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 11) sought the reply of the Election Commission to an application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking directions to the ECI to allow verification of the burnt memory and Symbol Loading Units of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The Court also told the ECI to not erase or reload the data in the EVMs while carrying out the verification.
ADR filed the application contending that the Standard Operating Procedure framed by the ECI for verification of the EVMs was not in accordance with the April 2024 judgment in the EVM-VVPAT case.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta heard the matter.
During the hearing, CJI Khanna told Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, ECI's counsel, that the directions in the April 2024 judgment did not intend to erase or reload the polling data in the EVMs. The bench added that it only intended for the EVM Machine to be verified and checked by an engineer from the EVM manufacturing company after the polling was conducted.
Referring to the part-B of the direction in the ADR v. Election Commission case, the CJI verbally said :
"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 the micro-chips stock. That's all. Why do you erase the data?"
"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 somebody should come and verify, they have to examine"
The relevant part B states :
(2) That the burnt memory semi-controller in 5% of the EVMs, that is the Control Unit, Ballot Unit and the VVPAT, per assembly constituency or assembly segment of the Parliamentary constituency, shall be checked and verified by a team of engineers from the manufacturers of the EVM post the announcement of results, for any tampering or modification, on a written request made by candidates who are at serial number 2 or 3 behind the highest polled candidate. Such candidates or their representatives shall identify the EVMs by the polling station or the serial number.
The bench also told Singh that the amount of Rs 40,000 fixed by the ECI as the cost for verification of EVMs was too high."Reduce the cost of 40,000- that's too high," CJI told Singh.
The Court in its order directed the ECI to file a short affidavit explaining the SOPs adopted for verification of the EVMs. It also recorded the ECI's statement that no modification or correction of EVM data would be done.
"Mr Singh states that they will clarify the position by filing a short affidavit explaining the procedure adopted by them. He also states they won't be doing any modification/correction of the data," the bench noted.
The matter will be posted next in the week commencing on March 3, 2025.
The bench also refused to entertain a similar petition filed by former Haryana Minister Karan Singh Dalal and Lakhan Kumar Singla (a candidate in the recent Haryana Assembly elections) seeking verification of the EVMs used in the Haryana assembly elections, since an earlier petition filed by them on the same cause was withdrawn without obtaining liberty to file a fresh petition.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for ADR. He submitted that ECI's SOPs on EVM verifications are not adequate as per the main decision of the Court.
"What we want is that somebody should examine the software and hardware of EVM to see whether they have any element of manipulations or not."
Sr Advocate Devadat Kamat appearing for another petitioner, Sarva Mitter (connected matter) submitted that instead of carrying out proper verification of the EVMs on which the polling is done, only a mock poll is conducted which costs around 40,000 Rs. He said :
"A fresh poll is conducted, cost is 40,000 Rs per machine, total machine doesn't cost more than 30000, and what is done is a mock poll!"
The bench, however refused to entertain the petition filed by Karan Singh Dalal since a similar petition filed by Dalal was withdrawn, without obtaining liberty to file a fresh petition, the second petition was not maintainable.
What Has ADR Said On ECI's SOPs
The main contention of ADR in the plea is that the Administrative and Technical Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the ECI on June 1, 2024, and July 16, 2024, lack adequate guidelines for checking and verification of (1) burnt memory or microcontroller of EVMs and (2) Symbol Loading Unit (SLU).
ADR also said that the Checking and Verification exercise as prescribed presently further involves clearing/deletion of the original data of the burnt memory/microcontroller, which would further make any true checking and verification impossible.
The ADR argues that as per the SOPs issued, the ECI would conduct a "mere diagnostic check of EVM units and conduct of a mock poll, without any checking and verification of the burnt memory or chip (or data contained therein) by manufacturers of EVM. Furthermore, the role of engineers from BEL/ECIL in the so-called checking and verification exercise is to help conduct the mock poll and count the VVPAT slips generated in the mock poll."
The absence of complying guidelines defeats the essence of the landmark decision which intended to ensure that no malice or foul play is done during polling, the Association states.
The plea stated that the "absence of any SoP for checking of burnt memory blatantly disregards the directions passed by this Hon'ble Court. The wilful non-compliance by the ECI of the directions passed by this Hon'ble Court shows reluctance on the part of the ECI to subject the burnt memory/microcontroller from any scrutiny whatsoever."
The following reliefs have been sought :
a. Direct the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct Checking and Verification of burnt memory/microcontrollers of EVM in terms of this Hon'ble Court's judgment dated 26.04.2024 in WP(C) No. 434 of 2023 titled Association for Democratic Reform Vs Election Commission of India &Anr;
b. Direct the Election Commission of India to also conduct Checking and Verification of the Symbol Loading Unit as part of the EVM infrastructure;
c. Direct the Election Commission of India not to clear/delete the contents of the original burnt memory of EVMs where applications for Checking and Verification are pending;
Case Details : ASSOCIATION FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORMS Versus ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA AND ANR.| MA 40/2025 in W.P.(C) No. 434/2023 and connected matters