The Supreme Court on Friday gave its clear approval to the Electronic Voting Machine i.e. EVM, but 40 years ago, when EVM was used for the first time in Parur assembly constituency of Kerala, the court had canceled the election and 85 people were voting. Re-polling was ordered in 50 centres. In August 1980, Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) presented a prototype voting machine to political parties.
Two years later, in 1982, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that the machine would be used as a pilot project in 50 of the 84 polling stations in the Parur constituency during that year’s assembly elections in Kerala. . The central government did not approve the use of the machines, but the ECI used its constitutional powers under Article 324, which gives it the power to “superintend, direct and control” over elections.
Congress candidate went to court
In the results declared on 20 May 1982, Sivan Pillai (CPI) defeated Ambat Chacko Jose (Congress) by 123 votes. Pillai received 30,450 votes, of which 19,182 were cast using voting machines. Chacko Jose challenged the results in the trial court and the court upheld the validity of voting through machines and the election result. After this Jose went to the Supreme Court and appealed there. In the Supreme Court, a bench of Justices Murtaza Fazal Ali, Appaji Varadarajan and Ranganath Mishra heard the case.
Also read- On what basis is a candidate’s nomination rejected, know the role of the proposer
What argument did the Election Commission give?
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission argued that its powers under Article 324 would supersede any Act of Parliament, and if there was a conflict between the law and the powers of the ECI, the law would be subordinate to the Commission. Responding to this argument, Justice Fazal Ali wrote, “This is a very attractive argument but on close scrutiny and careful consideration it does not fall within the scope of 324 and is unrelated to it…”.
The bench, in its unanimous judgment, held that the introduction of voting machines is a legislative power which can be exercised only by the Parliament and State Legislatures (Articles 326 and 327), and not by the ECI.
Supreme Court did not accept the argument
The ECI also cited Section 59 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Rule 49 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. Section 59 says, “Votes shall be cast by ballot or in the manner prescribed…”. It further states that the ECI “may publish a notification giving directions relating to voting and that voting shall be conducted by ballot paper at the polling stations specified in the notification or in such manner as may be prescribed.”
However, during the hearing, the Supreme Court explained the “prescribed method” for voting, saying that it meant using ballot paper and not voting machines. The court also held that the “strict meaning” of the word ‘ballot paper’ would not include voting through voting machines. The court said that “if mechanical process is adopted, complete and proper training of voters will have to be done, which will take considerable time.”
Supreme Court canceled the election
After this decision of the Supreme Court, by-elections were held in Parur assembly constituency and Chacko Jose, who opposed EVMs, won. However, despite this decision of the Supreme Court, the Election Commission did not give up the idea of voting through voting machines instead of ballot papers. In the year 1988, the election law was amended and section 61A was included in it. A provision was made in this section that the Election Commission can conduct voting through EVMs.
Also read- Explainer: Why was not a single vote cast in 6 districts of Nagaland? What is the real reason for this?
EVM’s return after a decade
About a decade later, EVMs were used in 16 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. Then in the year 1999, voting took place on 46 Lok Sabha seats also through EVMs. In 2001, state elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal were conducted entirely using EVMs. By the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, EVMs had replaced ballot papers in all 543 seats. Since then EVMs are being used in all elections.
,
Tags: 2024 Loksabha Election, EVM, Loksabha Election 2024, Loksabha Elections, Supreme Court
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 27, 2024, 09:55 IST