HC verdict on Swamy's plea on EVMs on Tuesday

Swamy had said EC should return to ballot system as EVMs not tamper proof

PTI | January 17, 2012



The Delhi high court is likely to pronounce its verdict tomorrow on a plea of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy that a paper trail be incorporated to record the votes cast through electronic voting machine (EVMs) or return to the old system of paper ballots.

A bench of acting chief justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, which had reserved its verdict, is expected to pronounce the judgement on Tuesday.

Earlier, Swamy and the Election Commission of India (ECI), represented by lawyer Ashok Desai, had concluded the arguments.

The EC should return to the ballot system to avoid tampering as there was lack of transparency in EVMs at the time of polls, Swamy had said.

Either paper printouts should be incorporated in EVMs by the EC or it should return to the ballot paper system as EVMs are not tamper-proof, he said.

European countries like the UK, the US and Japan have rejected them (EVMs) due to their failure and they preferred paper ballots for their elections, he had said.

Seeking the court's direction, he also said "the EVM's brain, micro controller is being manufactured in foreign countries like Japan, which themselves do not use the machine due to its demerits."

The EC, however, opposed the plea saying that returning to the paper ballots would not be feasible as it would require immense expenditure as there are over 73 crore voters here.

"The machine (EVM) accommodates as many as 64 party symbols and because of electronically organised data, the counting became faster," Desai, appearing for the EC, had said.

Comments

 

Other News

El Niño threatens India’s Rabi crops

India’s southwest monsoon ended with a 13% rainfall deficit in 2026, its weakest performance in a decade, raising concerns over agricultural production, water security and the upcoming rabi season. With El Niño expected to persist into early 2027, experts warn that declining soil moisture, dep

Regulating the data advantage: India’s new e-Commerce framework

For over a decade, India’s e-commerce story has rested on a simple premise: platforms connect buyers and sellers, while data fuels efficiency, personalisation, and scale. However, as the market matured, its structure has revealed a growing imbalance. E-commerce platforms, especially marketplace ent

Changing weather patterns, climate change responsible for Nepal floods

The interaction between active Western Disturbances, increased atmospheric moisture and the region’s complex topography aswell as global warming are important factors behind intense rainfall in the Himalayas, leading to flash floods in Nepal, according to meteorologists. Nepal

A right she cannot reach

Last summer, the two of us spent several weeks in rural Madhya Pradesh with a non-profit that works on gender justice through women’s self-help groups. We went in with a notebook full of laws. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. The Dowry Prohibition Act. Free legal aid for every wo

Tier-2 cities lead India’s digital credit push

Digital payments have become a reflex for urban India, but the confidence earned in paying has not yet carried over to borrowing. That is the central finding of `How Urban India Pays Report 2026`, released by Pahlé India Foundation in collaboration with Amazon Pay. Based on a survey of 5,149 consu

India calls for doubling bilateral trade with UK by 2030

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has called upon businesses in India and the United Kingdom to translate the opportunities created by the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) into expanded trade, investment, partnerships and job creation. Addressing the Bu

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter