SC junks plea for reverting to paper ballots in elections

SC had in April dismissed petitions seeking ballot system. File pic

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to revert to paper ballot voting in elections in the country, saying allegations of tampering with electronic voting machines (EVM) raked up only when people lose polls. "What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs are not tampered with. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.

Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea, filed petitioner-in-person K A Paul sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.

When Paul said he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting. The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.

Terming the suspicion of manipulation of the EVMs "unfounded", the apex court then rejected the demand for reverting to the old system, saying the polling devices were "secured" and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting. In April, the top court dismissed a batch of petitions seeking a return to the paper ballot system.

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