EVMs: call for wider consultations. No direction to ECI: Delhi HC

Swamy's Plea on Voting Machines Disposed Of

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS): The Delhi High Court Tuesday disposed of a plea of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were not tamper-free and needed rectification to ensure fair elections. A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri, however, appreciated the suggestion made. The court said it cannot give any direction to the Election Commission for using the ballot paper system instead of EVMs to avoid tampering at the time of polls. The Janata Party chief had submitted that either paper printouts should be incorporated in the EVMs or the Election Commission should return to the ballot paper system to avoid tampering. "The Election Commission should at least provide paper receipts of the votes cast for the voter to verify," Swamy had said before the division bench of Sikri and Justice R.S. Endlaw. "This move would ensure that a vote cast is secured and the election is not rigged," he said. Swamy contended that in the poll process, transparency had to be given priority over efficiency. He had explained that EVMs' database was controlled by a computer chip and it was not tamper-proof. He had also cited examples of technologically advanced European nations which don't use EVMs for the same reason.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=127595

Politics News | Updated Jan 17, 2012 at 11:26am IST

No evidence of tampering of EVMs: Delhi HC on Swamy's plea

CNN-IBN

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said that there is no evidence to back petitioner and Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy's plea that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with.

The High Court has called for wider consultations before a decision is taken and said that it is difficult to issue any directions to the Election Commission (EC) on EVMs as of now.

In his plea, Swamy had demanded that receipts be given for ballots cast on EVMs claiming that the EVM system was not transparent.

Earlier, Swamy and the EC, represented by lawyer Ashok Desai, had concluded the arguments.

"The EC should return to the ballot system to avoid tampering as there was lack of transparency in EVMs at the time of polls," Swamy had said.

Either paper printouts should be incorporated in the EVMs by the EC or it should return to the ballot paper system as EVMs are not tamper-proof, he said.

European countries like the UK, the US and Japan have rejected them (EVMs) due to their failure and they preferred paper ballots for their elections, he had said.

Seeking the court's direction, he also said, "The EVM's brain, micro controller is being manufactured in foreign countries like Japan, which themselves do not use the machine due to its demerits."

The EC, however, opposed the plea saying that returning to the paper ballots would not be feasible as it would require immense expenditure as there are over 73 crore voters.

"The machine (EVM) accommodates as many as 64 party symbols and because of electronically organised data, the counting became faster," Desai, appearing for the EC, had said.

(With additional information from PTI)
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/no-evidence-of-tampering-of-evms-delhi-hc/221492-37-64.html