Hands off: SC refuses to direct EC to upload poll data within 48 hours

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 24

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass orders on a plea seeking directions to the Election Commission to upload voter turnout data within 48 hours of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha poll, saying a “hands-off approach needs to be adopted” during the elections.

A Vacation Bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta told senior counsel Dushyant Dave, who represented petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), “Let me tell you, this application will be heard after the elections… In between elections, hands off! We can’t interrupt the (electoral) process. We are also responsible citizens. Let the application be heard along with the main writ petition. Let us have some trust in the authorities.”

Have some trust

We can't interrupt the (electoral) process. We are also responsible citizens. Let us have some trust in the authorities. This application will be heard after the elections… In between, hands off! —Vacation Bench

On May 10, the ADR had filed an interim application in a 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that “scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)” of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.

However, the Bench was not convinced that it should be heard in the midst of elections.

The top court’s refusal came after senior counsel Maninder Singh pointed out on behalf of the Election Commission that it was a four-year-old petition in which an interim application had been filed merely on the basis of apprehensions.

“Was it permissible for you (ADR) to file an application in connection with a judgment where you are a party? The trust in the election process has to be strengthened, and not punctured. The EC takes steps on its own wherever it thinks fit…It came to the conclusion that these applications are merely apprehensions,” Singh said.

Pointing out that in its April 26 verdict on EVM-VVPAT, the top court had questioned the bona fides of the ADR, Singh urged the Bench to dismiss the plea as such continuous attempts to raise questions over the electoral process could reduce citizens’ participation in the democratic exercise.

On Wednesday, the poll panel had asserted that there was neither delay nor difference in the percentage of voter turnout and urged the top court to dismiss ADR’s plea seeking voter turnout data under Form 17C.

“There is no legal mandate to provide Form-17 to any person other than the candidate or his agent. The petitioner is trying to create an entitlement when none exists in the law by way of filing an application in the middle of the election period,” the EC had said.

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