AnyTV Bureau, New Delhi
Published by: Amit Mandal
Updated Tue, 08 Mar 2022 09:03 PM IST
Summary
During the hearing, the Supreme Court said that the counting of votes should be allowed as per the established practice, nothing can be done at the last moment.
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Refusal to list petition immediately
The Supreme Court refused to immediately list a PIL filed by Rakesh Kumar, a social activist, after the Election Commission of India said that it was complying with the court’s decision regarding VVPAT verification. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said that we are not interfering.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, the Chief Justice had agreed to list the petition on Wednesday after senior advocate Meenakshi Arora mentioned the matter. But in the afternoon, senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, mentioned before the bench that the petition was not maintainable as the officials of the Election Commission had to comply with the Supreme Court’s 2019 judgment regarding VVPAT verification. already trained.
The counsel for the commission gave this argument
The counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the verification of slips should be done in the first or second round of counting and not in the last as election agents do not stay till the end. On this, the Chief Justice said that when the counting of votes for the assembly elections of five states is going to be held on Thursday, what can the court do at the last minute. Counsel for the commission Maninder Singh submitted that people have been trained as per the court’s decision, and the petition is not maintainable.
The bench agreed to Singh’s contention and said that we are not interfering. Continue counting in accordance with established practice, procedures and law. The commission is following the decision of the Supreme Court, he has given a statement. The Chief Justice said that the petition would be considered as per the regular procedure. It has been said in the petition that there is no use in doing VVPAT verification after the counting is over. Verification should happen first when there are agents, parties, candidates etc.
Let us inform that on April 8, 2019, the apex court had directed that the verification of VVPAT paper trail be increased from one EVM to five EVMs per assembly constituency. The order was passed in a petition filed by leaders of various political parties seeking physical verification of VVPAT paper trail of at least 50 per cent polling stations.