Don't delete EVM data pending verifications, apex court tells Election Commission

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to respond to a plea seeking directions to allow verification of the burnt memory and Symbol Loading Units (SLUs) of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Acting on an interim application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta told senior counsel Maninder Singh, representing the EC, not to erase or reload the data in EVMs while carrying out verifications.

As ADR alleged that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) framed by the poll panel for verification of EVMs was not in accordance with the top court’s April 26, 2024 verdict in the EVM-VVPAT case, the Bench asked the EC to file an affidavit explaining the SOP for verification of EVMs. It also sought a direction to the poll panel to check and verify burnt memory/micro-controllers and SLUs of EVMs.

Terming the present cost of Rs 40,000 fixed by the EC for verification of EVMs as “too high”, it also asked the poll panel to reduce it and posted the matter for the week commencing on March 3.

While dismissing PILs seeking return to the paper ballot system or a 100% cross-verification of votes cast through EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, the top court had issued certain directions to the EC to strengthen the current EVM system.

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 EC.

It had also 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.

On Tuesday, ADR counsel Prashant Bhushan contended that the EC's SOP on EVM verification was inadequate as it didn’t comply with the court’s directions in the April 26, 2024 verdict.

"What we want is for someone to examine the software and hardware of the EVMs to see whether they contain any element of manipulation,” Bhushan said.

The Bench told EC counsel Singh that its April 26, 2024 verdict did not intend to erase or reload the polling data in EVMs and that it only intended for the EVMs to be verified and checked by an engineer from the EVM manufacturing company after the polling process was over.

Singh told the Bench that the EC would clarify the position by filing an affidavit explaining the procedure adopted and the poll panel would not do any modification/correction of the data.

However, the top court refused to entertain a similar petition by former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal and Lakhan Kumar Singla (a candidate in the recent Haryana Assembly elections) seeking a direction to the EC to put in place a policy for verification of the original burnt memory/micro-controller of the four components of EVMs as an earlier petition filed by them on the same cause was withdrawn without obtaining liberty to file a fresh petition.