New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) response regarding pleas for verification of electronic voting machines’ (EVMs) burnt memory and symbol loading units.
A special bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta directed the ECI not to erase or reload data during verification. “Do not erase the data, do not reload the data—all you need to do is have someone verify and examine,” Chief Justice Khanna stated.
The bench expressed concern over the EC’s verification costs, noting, “Reduce the cost of Rs 40,000—that’s too high for verifying one EVM.”
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), argued that the Standard Operating Procedure for EVM verification was insufficient. “What we want is for someone to examine the software and hardware of the EVMs to see whether they contain any element of manipulation,” Bhushan said.
The court declined to hear a fresh plea from former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal due to suppression of facts about a similar withdrawn petition. However, it issued notices to the poll panel on applications filed by ADR and losing candidate Sarv Mitter.
The EC’s counsel assured the court that no modification of EVM data would occur during verification. The poll panel has been given 15 days to file its response explaining the verification procedure, with the next hearing scheduled for the week of March 3.