Election Commission tells Supreme Court it will not erase data from EVMs slotted for verification
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was hearing a plea by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, which contended that the Standard Operating Procedure framed by the poll body was not in tune with the April 2024 judgment of the apex court in the EVM-VVPAT case.
The court, however, said the verification of the units must be done by the engineers of the Bharatiya Electrical Limited (BEL) and Electronic Corporation of India Limited.
'The engineers will also issue a certificate that they are satisfied that the burnt memory/microcontrollers and software have not been tampered with and their integrity is maintained,' the court recorded.
The court, in its order, said if a candidate wanted a mock poll, the EC could do it.
In its judgment pronounced on April 26 last year, the Bench had upheld the EVM system of polling while refusing a plea to revive paper ballots.
In a separate direction, the top court had directed that the burnt memory of microcontrollers of 5% of EVMs, which includes that of control units, ballot units, VVPATs, in every Assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency can be checked and verified by a team of engineers of the EVM manufacturers in case of any suspicion of tampering.
The exercise would be initiated on a written request from candidates who come second or third in the victor's tally, the judgment had said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Centre Warns Of "Constitutional Chaos" After Timeline Order For Governors
New Delhi: The government has warned against imposing a timeline on the President and Governors for clearing bills, differing with an earlier Supreme Court order. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had in April prescribed a three-month deadline for the President and one month for Governors to decide on the bills passed by the legislature. Such timelines would amount to an organ of the government usurping powers that are not vested in it, thereby upsetting the delicate separation of powers, the government said in a written submission to the top court, warning that it will lead to "constitutional chaos". "Even under its extraordinary powers vested in Article 142, the Supreme Court cannot amend the Constitution or defeat the intent of the Constitution makers, provided there are no such procedural mandates in the constitutional text," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said in his submission. Though there may be "some limited problems in implementation" of the assent process, these cannot justify "reducing the higher office of the Governor to a subordinate one," said Mr Mehta. He argued that the offices of the Governor and President are "politically complete" and represent "higher ideals of democratic governance". Any alleged lapses should be redressed through political and constitutional mechanisms, not through "unwarranted judicial" interventions, he said. Under Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor can give assent to the bills presented to him by the legislature, withhold or reserve it for the consideration of the President. He can also send it back to the House for reconsideration, but if passed again, the Governor shall not withhold assent. The Governor can also choose to reserve the bill for the President's consideration if it appears to be at odds with the Constitution, directive principles of state policy, or is of national importance. In its April 12 order in a case related to Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court had sought to regulate this process and ordered that the Constitutional heads follow a timeline to clear the pending bills. It ordered, "We deem it appropriate to adopt the timeline prescribed by the Ministry of Home Affairs... and prescribe that the President is required to take a decision on the bills reserved for his consideration by the Governor within a period of three months from the date on which such reference is received." The judgment drew pushback, with President Droupadi Murmu raising queries to the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of such timelines. Under Article 143 of the Constitution, the President posed 14 questions to the top court, seeking its opinion on the powers of the President and Governors under Articles 200 and 201 in dealing with bills passed by the state legislatures. A bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai in July fixed a time schedule to hear the Presidential reference case and decide on the questions referred to it by the President. The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, PS Narasimha, and Atul S Chandurkar, had asked the Centre and states to submit their written submissions by August 12. The five-judge bench headed by the CJI will begin hearing the case on August 19.
India.com
2 hours ago
- India.com
This Muslim Country plans to kill 3000000 dogs due to...; not Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Turkey, it is..
Several celebrities, animal lovers, animal rights activists, and political leaders have raised their voices in light of the Supreme Court's recent judgment to relocate the stray dogs to the shelters in Delhi-NCR. The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on pleas seeking a stay of its August 11 order to remove all stray dogs from the localities in the Delhi-NCR region and put them in shelter homes. A three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria said it will pass an interim order on the August 11 order of a different bench. Earlier, the Supreme Court on August 11 took a stern view of the stray dog menace and ordered the Delhi-NCR to start removing stray dogs from all localities within eight weeks and house them in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic authorities. The discussion on stray dogs continues to spark debate in India. There have been different responses to this decision in public discourse, with some indicating that this is vital to create a hazardous situation for road safety. Meanwhile, others have indicated it is an infringement of animal rights. Meanwhile, reports suggest that another country is planning to slaughter almost 3 million stray dogs, drawing global outrage. The FIFA World Cup 2030 is scheduled to take place in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. According to the media reports, about preparations for the event have shaken the world. Morocco reportedly aims to kill approximately 3 million stray dogs to make its cities look clean and nice. Animal rights groups, animal lovers, and social workers across the globe have condemned this news. When Morocco was chosen to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the government was serious about cleaning up its cities. As part of this plan, they intend to eliminate stray dogs. Media reports indicate that the dogs are ostensibly killed via poisoning, shooting, or sounded to death by electric shocks. Often, they are physically trapped in painful ways, transferred to a strap shelter home, and then killed more inhumanely than simply putting them down. In some areas, they have even been drowned or burned. When this news spread, animal welfare groups and animal rights activists worldwide protested vehemently. Jane Goodall, a well-known wildlife and animal conservationist on a global scale, wrote a letter to FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström with respect to the matter.
Hans India
3 hours ago
- Hans India
Sonia Gandhi is daughter-in-law of India for 59 years: Jagga Reddy
Hyderabad: Telangana PCC working president T Jagga Reddy said here on Friday that party senior leader Sonia Gandhi is daughter-in-law of India for 59 years. At a press conference, he observed: 'BJP leaders are talking about Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi; speaking as if untrue things are facts, making it a job to sling mud at the Gandhi family; BJP, with no history of sacrifice, throws accusations at Indira and Rajiv who sacrificed their lives; it's a family of sacrifice; this is a sad matter'. Reddy went on to state: 'BJP leaders who talk about 'Dharma – don't you even have this understanding? BJP, with no history of sacrifice, throws accusations at the family of Indira and Rajiv who sacrificed their lives; do any BJP leaders have the great virtues that Sonia and Rahul possess? When the entire nation elected Sonia to be Prime Minister, she made Manmohan Singh the PM and provided good governance; are BJP leaders ready for a debate on Sonia's quality of sacrifice? When Manmohan Singh asked Rahul Gandhi to become PM, Rahul told him, 'You yourself should be PM', a great act of renunciation; Delhi BJP leaders, can you make Advani the Prime Minister, the man who built your party, and show such sacrifice?' He pointed out that Rahul exposed that BJP came to power twice through fraudulent votes and now BJP leaders are attacking Sonia. 'Rahul proved that the Election Commission bends to BJP's wishes; even the Supreme Court revealed this; that's why BJP leaders, unable to digest it, are targeting Sonia,' he said. 'BJP leaders had no role in the freedom movement. If you ask Modi and Amit Shah's parents, they will acknowledge the greatness of the Gandhi family. BJP leaders who talk about 'Dharma' – don't you know how inheritance works? Do you not even have the basic understanding that a wife takes her husband's caste? What kind of people are you? Rahul's family is a Kashmiri Brahmin family,' he claimed. He alleged that 'BJP leaders are fools'. 'Even people of this country accepted Sonia Gandhi as one of this nation's women; she has upheld the traditions of this country. After Rajiv Gandhi died, Sonia lived in anonymity for seven years; she entered politics only when people wanted her to; she studied the parties and politics of the country. At the request of Congress activists, Sonia worked as the party president; even when allies requested, she refused to take the oath as PM; when asked Rahul also refused; Sonia and Rahul made Manmohan Singh the PM,' he explained. According to Reddy, 'If I don't get an MLA ticket, I will fight – people say, but in contrast, even when offered the PM's seat, Sonia and Rahul refused to take it. Would BJP leaders make such a sacrifice? Do any BJP leaders have the great qualities that Sonia and Rahul have? Do you have the capacity to sacrifice? If BJP is in power today, it is because of the sacrifices of L K Advani and A B Vajpayee. Do you have the ability to discuss the topic of sacrifice? If you truly had the spirit of sacrifice, Advani would have become PM. Then why are you talking about Sonia? You have no moral right to talk about Sonia. Are BJP people speaking with wisdom, or do they not even understand what they're saying?'
