Supreme Court notice to EC on misuse of EVMs

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Election Commission on a PIL from a Dehradun based journalist alleging unauthorised handling of EVMs by private persons other than EC officials and to restrain them from doing so.

A Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan issued notice after hearing senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for the journalist Asish Goyal. The Petitioner said he was filing this PIL to bring to the notice of this Court certain vital security breaches in recent elections relating to the physical handling of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) by unauthorized persons and in contravention of the Manual on Electronic Voting Machine and VVPAT of the Election Commission of India.

The Petitioner is praying for appropriate directions to the EC to urgently put in place necessary safeguards to ensure that the integrity of the EVMs is not compromised in any manner. Any security breach relating to the integrity of the EVMs poses a fundamental threat to democracy itself.

He wanted the EC to inform the court as to the exact number of EVMs, which have been manufactured, and currently in use in the country.