“EVMs Are Not Tampered…”: Supreme Court’s Remarks While Dismissing Plea For Ballot Paper

While dismissing a plea that sought the return of ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Supreme Court of India made scathing remarks on the critics of EVMs.

The petitioner said that even tech giant Elon Musk has made similar comments about EVMs and issues related to it. The person also pointed out that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and former CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy have also raised concerns about EVM tampering in the past.

However, the court responded by saying that these leaders only seem to question the EVMs when they lose elections.

“What happens is, if you win the elections, EVMs are not tampered with. When you lose elections, EVMs are tampered with. When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now, this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with,” the Supreme Court remarked.

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The petitioner also suggested that India should switch to using ballot papers for elections like many other countries do. But the court asked, “Why don’t you want to be different from the rest of the world?”.

This debate about EVMs has been on the momentum by the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, where the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance won a landslide victory.

In Maharashtra, BJP seized 132 seats for the party marking the highest victory ever in the state, while the  Shinde-led  Shiv Sena garnered 57 seats and NCP bagged 41 seats to add a total of 230 seats.

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On the contrary, Congress won just 16 seats. Following this, the opposition has been alleging that EVMs were tampered with leading to their defeat.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has even demanded that India go back to using ballot papers for elections. He stated that the country doesn’t want elections through EVMs but through ballot papers.