ECONOMY

SC cautions against suspecting everything; reserves order on EVM-VVPAT tally plea


NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday cautioned against suspecting everything regarding electronic voting machines (EVMs) and verbally observed that it would be wrong to assume that foreign countries are more advanced than India.

A division bench, comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking directions to tally Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through EVMs during elections.

Justice Khanna verbally told the counsels for the petitioners that it would be unfair to be “critical about everything”. In response to a comparison drawn by the petitioners between foreign countries and India with regard to the voting system, he remarked: “We have our own system. It’s working well.”

The judge went on to add that “the fact that the number of voters has gone up (in the last years) is an indication of the faith of people”.

During the hearing, the bench also raised the issue of punishment for polling/returning officers found guilty of dereliction of their duty. The bench clarified that it is “not its domain” to determine the quantum of punishment to be ascribed to delinquent polling officers. However, the bench added that any such dereliction found would be a “serious thing” and the same should be duly penalised.

Earlier, justice Datta verbally told the counsel for ECI that a poll process has a sanctity. “Let nobody have any apprehension that something is being done which should not be done.”


Source link

Related Articles

Please, use our online surveys for check your audience.
Back to top button
pinup