The supreme court rejected a plea by Association of for Democratic Reforms [ADR], a non-governmental organization [NGO], which was co-founded by left wing activist, Prashant Bhushan as per the latest Hindi news.
The two-judge Supreme Court vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Dutta and Satish Chandra Sharma refused to hear the petition by ADR which wanted the court to direct the Election Commission of India [ECI] to publish the exact figures of voter turnout for every polling station where voting has taken place.
While rejecting the petition by ADR, the court observed that such a requirement will overburden the ECI with the need to mobilise additional resources even while the elections are on.
The court also noted that this plea is similar to another petition filed by ADR back in 2019 when it sought the court’s directions for ECI to publish an account of votes recorded from each and every polling station. That petition is still pending with the court according to breaking news in India today.
Earlier, ECI informed the Supreme Court in an affidavit that “There was no legal mandate to provide final voter turnout”. The affidavit filed by ECI was in response to the petition filed by ADR.
ADR wants India to return to ballot paper voting
ADR had filed a petition in the Supreme Court soon after the 2019 elections wherein it sought the court’s order for a return to voting through ballot papers according to the latest Hindi news reports.
The reason ADR gave for this plea was that it believed the electronic voting machines lacked the required level of efficacy to ensure what it assumes is “fairness” in the election process.
ADR had also tried to raise suspicion by alleging that the voting percentage increases days after polling and that could possibly mean that the EVMs are tampered.
This time, the ECI in its affidavit clearly made the charge against ADR that it is trying to create an atmosphere of uncertainty during the time of elections by raising baseless suspicions against the EVMs.
Why ADR has no problem with EVMs when non-BJP parties win?
Ideally, this is a question that the court should ask petitioners like ADR who question the efficacy of the EVMs only when the BJP wins.
When you go by the latest Hindi news as well as news reports on other mainstream media outlets, hardly any of the editors or reporters speak about the efficacy of EVMs when the Congress or other opposition parties win.
This in itself is a biased approach toward the EVMs especially because the ECI had earlier challenged all those who slur these machines to try and hack them. Strangely, none of those raising such fake allegations had turned up to meet the ECI’s challenge.
This proves that making such false allegations against the EVMs as ADR is doing, is part of a conspiracy to undermine India’s electoral system, which is among the best in the world.
It is not hidden from anyone that forces outside India such as George Soros, Chinese Communist Party and others want to interfere in the Indian electoral system. They currently have one common goal — defeat the BJP and get a weak and corrupt government run by a coalition of opposition parties that understand only one value — money.
