SC EVM: After the defeat in Maharashtra elections, the opposition has again started raising the issue of EVM (Electronic Voting Machine). Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday raised questions on EVMs and announced a nationwide campaign to conduct elections through ballot paper. However, before his announcement, the Supreme Court not only reprimanded the petitioner on the petition demanding elections through ballot paper, but also gave a strong message to the political parties.
The court said that when you lose elections, EVMs get damaged and when you win, you become silent. It is not right to blame the defeat on EVMs. The bench of Supreme Court Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale made this comment while hearing the petition demanding elections through ballot paper. This PIL is Dr. KA Paul filed a petition in the court.
The court asked- How did such a great idea come?
During this, the court asked the petitioner that how did you get the brilliant idea of filing this petition? On this Paul said that he is the president of an organization which has saved more than three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows. The court said that your work is very good. Then why are you entering the political arena? On that Paul said that he has visited more than 150 countries of the world. Most of these countries now vote by ballot.
The court said that why do you not want to separate from other countries of the world? Paul said that corruption is increasing due to this. The Election Commission itself has seized an amount of more than nine thousand crores in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The court said that how can you say that if elections are held through ballot paper then there will be no corruption.
The petitioner, referring to Elon Musk,
Told the court that his petition has the support of more than 18 political parties. Apart from this, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and current Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu have also said that EVMs can be tampered. Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy has also said that EVMs can be tampered.
On this, the court said that when Chandrababu loses the election, the EVM gets damaged for him and when he wins and becomes the Chief Minister, the EVM gets damaged. Jagan Reddy had also made this allegation after losing the elections. After a long debate the court rejected the application.