New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to replace Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with ballot papers in elections.

A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that the Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue and rejected the prayer to revert to ballot papers.  

“The writ petition challenging the use of EVMs in the elections was dismissed by the Supreme Court. [I]n view of the aforesaid. We dismiss the writ petition,” ordered the CJI Upadhyaya-led Bench, while rejecting the petition filed by one Upendra Nath Dalai.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, the law officer representing the Union government, argued that Dalai had earlier been castigated by courts for making reckless allegations.

“Nobody can abuse the process of court like this. The matter has already been settled by the Supreme Court,” submitted ASG Sharma.

In November last year, the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the ECI to return to the ballot system due to the alleged manipulability of EVMs.

“When you lose, EVMs are tampered with; when you win, EVMs are fine,” the apex court had remarked.

In April 2024, rejecting a batch of petitions seeking mandatory cross-verification of the votes cast with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, the Supreme Court said that raising repeated and persistent doubts on EVMs, even without supporting evidence, can have the contrarian impact of creating distrust and can reduce citizen participation and confidence in elections.

In his opinion, Justice Dipankar Datta said the prayer to revert to the paper ballot system revealed the real intention of the petitioning association (Association for Democratic Reforms) to discredit the system of voting through the EVMs and thereby derail the electoral process that is underway, by creating unnecessary doubts in the minds of the electorate.

“I have serious doubts as regards the bona fides of the petitioning association when it seeks a reversion to the old order. Irrespective of the fact that in the past efforts of the petitioning association in bringing about electoral reforms have borne fruit, the suggestion put forth appeared inexplicable,” Justice Datta had said.

(IANS)