CJI sends ex-Haryana minister’s plea seeking EVM verification policy to Justice Dipankar Datta-led Bench-OxBig News Network

Former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal’s petition seeking a direction to the Election Commission to put in place a policy for verification of the original burnt memory/micro-controller of the four components of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be heard by a Bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta in the week commencing on January 20 next year.

Dalal’s petition seeking EVM verification policy in terms of the court’s April 26, 2024,  verdict in Association for Democratic Reforms case came up for hearing on Friday before a Bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna which said it should go to Justice Datta’s Bench as it had previously heard a petition on the issue. Justice Datta was also on the CJI Khanna-led Bench that delivered the April 26 verdict on the EVM issue.

The four units of EVMs are Control Unit, Ballot Unit, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and Symbol Loading Unit.

The petition filed by former Dalal – a five-time MLA and Lakhan Kumar Singla—a candidate in the recent Haryana Assembly poll  — have sought compliance of the top court’s April 26 verdict in ‘Association for Democratic Reforms versus Union of India’.

On behalf of the Election Commission (EC), senior counsel Maninder Singh opposed the petition. Senior counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan – who represented the petitioners – wanted the CJI to hear the matter but Justice Khanna didn’t agree.

Earlier, a Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath on December 13 said the matter should go to the Bench (of CJI Khanna) that rejected the demand for re-introduction of paper ballots.

It was a Bench of Justice Khanna and Justice Datta that had on April 26 dismissed PILs seeking return to the paper ballot system or a 100% cross-verification of votes cast through EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail slips even as it issued certain directions to the Election Commission to strengthen the current EVM system.

However, it had opened a window for the aggrieved unsuccessful candidates securing second and third places by allowing them to seek verification of microcontroller chips embedded in five per cent EVMs per assembly constituency on a written request upon payment of a fee to the poll panel.

It had mandated that five per cent of the EVMs in every assembly constituency should undergo verification by the engineers from EVM manufacturers after the election results were announced.

However, the petitioners alleged that the EC failed to issue any such policy, leaving the procedure for burnt memory verification unclear.

Dalal and Singla secured the second-highest votes in their respective constituencies and sought a direction to the EC to implement a protocol for examining the original “burnt memory” or microcontroller of the four components of the EVM — the control unit, ballot unit, VVPAT and symbol loading unit.

The petitioners—who have filed separate election petitions challenging the results before the Punjab and Haryana High Court—have urged the Supreme Court to direct the EC to conduct the verification exercise within eight weeks.