Congress Politician Approaches Supreme Court for EVM Verification in Haryana Elections
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New Delhi, Dec 12 (NationPress) A Congress politician has approached the Supreme Court requesting verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) utilized in the Haryana Assembly elections.
Karan Singh Dalal, a former five-time MLA, in the plea requested directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to establish a protocol for the inspection and verification of the original burnt memory/microcontroller from the four essential components of the EVM (Control Unit, Ballot Unit, VVPAT, and Symbol Loading Unit).
The plea further requested that this verification process be completed within eight weeks and be applicable to the EVM verification forms submitted to the ECI on October 14.
The petition states that the issues raised necessitate an authoritative ruling from the apex court due to their significant public importance and wide-ranging implications across the nation.
"This matter impacts the functioning of democracy in our country and elections being conducted in various states, thus requiring urgent and definitive resolution," the petition asserted.
Earlier this year in April, the Supreme Court mandated a verification process to fortify the integrity of the election process nationwide, directing that the burnt memory/microcontroller be checked in 5 percent of EVMs for evidence of tampering upon written request by candidates who received the second and third highest votes.
This verification was to be carried out by a team of engineers from the EVM manufacturers, allowing candidates and their representatives the option to be present during the process.
The petition claims that the ECI has yet to establish any formal procedure for the examination and verification of the original burnt memory/microcontroller of the four EVM components, as required by the Supreme Court's ruling.
The lack of a verification procedure for the burnt memory suggests a reluctance on the part of the ECI to allow any scrutiny of the original burnt memory microcontroller, as argued in the petition.
