SC bench headed by Justice Datta to hear in Jan 2025 EVM verification pleas

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday announced that a plea seeking a comprehensive policy for the verification of electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be heard by a bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta during the week commencing January 20, 2025. The petition, filed by former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal and Lakhan Kumar Singla, raises concerns about the lack of protocols for verifying EVM components.

The decision was made by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar. At the outset, senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Election Commission (EC), sought dismissal of the plea, citing prior rejections of similar petitions. However, the CJI clarified that the bench led by Justice Datta would address the matter.

This fresh plea follows the Supreme Court’s April 26 judgement, which dismissed claims of EVM manipulation, terming them “unfounded,” while mandating the verification of microcontroller chips in five percent of EVMs in each assembly constituency. Petitioners Dalal and Singla, who secured the second-highest votes in their respective constituencies, allege that the EC has failed to implement this protocol, leaving the verification process vague.

The petition emphasises the need to examine the “burnt memory” of the EVM’s components, including the control unit, ballot unit, VVPAT, and symbol loading unit, to ensure tamper-proof elections. Currently, the EC’s diagnostic procedures reportedly rely on mock polls, bypassing deeper scrutiny of the devices. The BJP recently won 48 of 90 assembly seats in the Haryana elections. While Dalal and Singla do not challenge the results, they have urged the apex court to direct the EC to establish a robust EVM verification mechanism within eight weeks. Separate petitions regarding the election results remain pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court