E-Filing in the Supreme Court of India

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Do
not rest till all the fraud EVMs are banned and all governments
selected by these EVMs are dissolved and go for fresh polls with Ballot
Papers.

Do not recognise any leader selected by these fraud EVMs.

POINTS:

http://www.pioneernews.in/2017/04/29/amid-clamour-against-evms-election-commissions-outreach-to-parties/

No.1)

“To
divert attention from EVM tampering, they are trying to mislead the
people through false propaganda,” Mayawati said, adding the manner in
which the BJP is working with the support of the RSS poses a risk to
democracy.

2)

“If
the Constitution and democracy are not kept alive in true spirit, the
doors to power will be closed for SC/STs and backwards, and they will
remain deprived forever,” she said.

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1
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO.9093 OF 2013
(Arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 13735 of 2012)
Dr. Subramanian Swamy
…. Appellant(s)
Versus
Election Commission of India
…. Respondent(s)
WITH
WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 406 OF 2012
J U D G M E N T

Contentions:

….EVMs, like all electronic equipments, are open to hacking.

……At present, a voter presses a button only but cannot ascertain the actual voting.

He
is not sure whether his vote is recorded or not, if recorded, whether
it is recorded in favour of the person to whom it was intended or not.

Whether it is valid or invalid and whether it is counted or not.

It is submitted by the petitioner that unless and until answers to
these questions are personally seen by the voter, it cannot be said that
voting is made by him because “pressing a button of choice and getting
flashed the red-light” is not actual voting in real sense unless the
voter knows well that what has happened in consequence of pressing a button of his choice from the EVMs.

4)

Stand of the Election Commission of India:

….. It was also informed to this Court that the ECI has been exploring
the possibility of incorporating a viable Voter Verifiable Paper Audit
Trail (VVPAT) system as a part of the presently used EVMs to make the
election system more transparent. Further, it was brought to our notice
that the ECI conducted field trials for VVPAT system earlier also but
the same had not been successful and were discontinued.

5)

Referring
to Section 61A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, it is
submitted that the Statute itself provides for recording of votes by
EVMs and the ECI has been given the discretion to prescribe recording of
votes by such EVMs as it may deem fit.

This
discretion has to be exercised in a manner to preserve the sanctity of
the election process and ensure that the election is conducted in a free
and fair manner.

6)

The ECI … also in the process of exploring to incorporate VVPAT system which is compatible with the present EVMs used by it.

From the materials placed by the ECI, it is noted that the purchase
order has been placed with M/s BEL and M/s ECIL for supplying 150 and
300 VVPAT units respectively at Rs. 16,200/- per unit excluding excise
duty, sales tax and transportation etc. costing Rs. 72,90,000/- (approx.).

The
ECI has also highlighted that if the VVPAT systems are ultimately to be
used with all the 13 lakh EVMs available, the total cost
in the purchase of VVPAT units may come to about Rs. 1,690 crores,
taking into account the possible reduction in the cost per unit due to
bulk production the cost may come to Rs. 13,000/- per unit approximately.

…..vote is nothing but an act of expression which has immense importance in democratic system.

In the light of the above discussion and taking notice of the pragmatic
and reasonable approach of the ECI and considering the fact that in
general elections all over India, the ECI has to handle one million (ten
lakhs) polling booths, we permit the ECI to introduce the same in
gradual stages or geographical-wise in the ensuing general elections.

The area, State or actual booth(s) are to be decided by the ECI and the ECI is free to implement the same in a phased manner.

For implementation of such a system (VVPAT) in a phased manner, the
Government of India is directed to provide required financial assistance
for procurement of units of VVPAT.

7)

The ex CJI P Sathasivam committed a grave error of judgement by
ordering that ECI was free to implement is a phased manner. In 2014 Lok
Sabha elections only 8 out of 543 seats were replaced. Subsequently in
all the Assembly Elections just a small fraction of EVMs were replaced.
In UP Assembly only in 20 constituencies they were replaced.

It is a clear proof that the Ex CJI and the CEC have agreed that the EVMs could be tampered, or distorted or rigged.

In the first place why should Rs 3100 crores crores be wasted to
procure VVPAT that too in a phased manner ? The ex CJI never ordered for
using Ballot papers instead which is being followed in almost all the democracies of the world.

But at the same time the Election Commission dares anyone to tamper
voting device successfully contradicting its own earlier stand that the
EVMs are subject to tamper,distort or rig.

8)

IN A letter to Modi four months ago, the
Election Commission sought urgent release of funds to procure enough
Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines to cover all polling
stations ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

9)

http://indianexpress.com/…/letters-for-2-years-sos-to-pm-e…/

Letters for 2 years, SOS to Modi, Election Commission still awaits EVM papertrail funds

VVPAT machines produce a printout of the vote cast using an EVM, which can be shown to the voter to dispel any doubts.

IN A letter to Modi four months ago, the Election Commission sought
urgent release of funds to procure enough Voter Verified Paper Audit
Trail (VVPAT) machines to cover all polling stations ahead of the next
Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The EC
has sent over 10 reminders to the government on the matter, since June
2014, and the letter to Modi by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi,
on October 25, 2016, was an SOS of sorts.

The
CEC very rarely writes directly to Modi, with its communication to the
government on electoral matters normally limited to Law and Home
ministries.

Several parties, including the BSP, Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi
Party, have raised doubts about tampering of EVMs following the Uttar
Pradesh and Uttarakhand results.

10)

Before the 2014 general elections, the BJP had talked of EVM tampering on many occasions.

http://news.webindia123.com/…/A…/India/20100828/1575461.html

RSS favours paper ballots, EVMs subjected to public scrutiny

Joining the controversy regarding the reliablity of Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs) which have been questioned by political parties, the RSS
today asked the Election Commission (EC) to revert back to tried and
tested paper ballots and subject EVMs to public scrutiny whether these
gadgets are tamper proof. In an editorial titled ‘Can we trust our EVMs?’,

The
Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, noted it was a fact that till date an
absolutely tamper-proof machine had not been invented and credibility of
any system depends on ‘transparency, verifiability and trustworthiness’
than on blind and atavistic faith in its infallibility.

The
issue is not a ‘private affair’ and it involves the future of India.
Even if the EVMs were genuine, there was no reason for the EC to be
touchy about it, the paper commented.

The Government and the EC can’t impose EVMs as a fait accompli on Indian democracy as the only option before the voter.

There were flaws like booth capturing, rigging, bogus voting, tampering
and ballot paper snatching in the ballot paper system of polling
leading the country to switch over to the EVMs and all these problems were relevant in EVMs too.

Rigging was possible even at the counting stage.

What
made the ballot papers voter-friendly was that all aberrations were
taking place before the public eye and hence open for corrections
whereas the manipulations in the EVMs is entirely in the hands of powers
that be and the political appointees manning the sytem, the paper
commented. The EVM has only one advantage — ’speed’ but that advantage
has been undermined by the staggered polls at times spread over three to four months.

‘’This
has already killed the fun of the election process,’’ the paper noted.
Of the dozen General Elections held in the country, only two were
through the EVMs and instead of rationally addressing the doubts aired
by reputed institutions and experts the Government has resorted to
silence its critics by ‘intimidation and arrests on false charges’, the
paper observed, recalling the arrest of Hyederabad-based technocrat Hari
Prasad by the Mumbai Police.

Prasad’s research has proved that the EVMs were ‘vulnerable to fraud’.

The
authorities want to send a message that anybody who challenges the EC
runs the risk of persecution and harassment, the RSS observed.

Most
countries around the world looked at the EVMs with suspicion and
countries like the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Ireland had all
reverted back to paper ballots shunning EVMs because they were ‘easy to
falsify, risked eavesdropping and lacked transparency’.

Democracy
is too precious to be handed over to whims or an opaque establishment
and network of unsafe gizmos. ‘’For the health of Indian democracy it is
better to return to tried and tested methods or else elections in future can turn out to be a farce,’’ the editorial said.

— (UNI) — 28DI28.xml

Before EVM Hackathon, Election Body’s Move To Reach Out To Parties | Pioneer News

In
view of the accusations and controversy surrounding tampering of
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Election Commission could meet
all political parties…

pioneernews.in

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