Amid mounting cases, EC holds talks with counsel

In a first-of-its-kind exercise, the Election Commission on Saturday held an extensive dialogue with lawyers who represent it in the Supreme Court, 28 high courts and various other lower-level courts.

As many as 100 legal counsel were in attendance with former Attorney General of India KK Venugopal’s recorded message being played at the gathering here. Senior advocates from the Supreme Court — including Maninder Singh and Sukumar Pattjoshi — were also in attendance with counsel assigned to 36 chief electoral officers across states and UTs.

The conference, sources said, was meant to reorient the legal framework of the EC to meet emerging challenges more effectively. “The idea was to align the poll panel’s resources with the dynamic landscape of electoral jurisprudence in India. Discussions focused on enhancing the preparedness, efficiency and coordination of the commission’s legal team, with particular emphasis on issues related to election law, judicial proceedings and legal reforms,” said the EC.

Through this interaction, the panel seeks to reinforce the effectiveness of its legal representation across various judicial forums. The exercise, where Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar addressed the gathering, comes in the wake of past and continuing legal challenges the poll panel has had to face.

During the 2024 General Elections, the EC faced several petitions challenging the use of EVMs. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the petitions.

Recognising apprehensions raised by petitioners, the SC found substantial evidence on reliability and security of EVMs with existing VVPAT systems. The SC gave directions to introduce additional safeguards in the existing EVM systems. At the EC’s dialogue today, various contentious issues and legal readiness to deal with those were discussed.