SC issues notice to EC on plea seeking probe into discrepancies during LS elections

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition filed by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) alleging discrepancies in the final vote counts and EVMs in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde sought a response from the poll panel and posted the matter for hearing to February 2020.

The BJP-led NDA government had returned to a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha elections. The petition was filed seeking a direction to the EC to investigate the election results for discrepancies.

"The issues and irregularities that arose in the conduct of the election are being cited as arguments for seeking the prayers sought in the petition for effectuating free and fair elections, the survival of democracy and for the enforcement of fundamental rights," the petition stated.

The petitioner also sought a direction to the poll body to conduct "actual and accurate reconciliation of data" before declaring any election result.

"That in order to uphold and preserve the sanctity of elections, it is undeniably imperative that election results are accurate. The entire electoral process is damaged if elections are not credible even in the absence of a demonstrable scam," the plea said.

The petition was filed to ensure that the democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities, it stated.The petition cited a letter written by former IAS officer Kannan Gopinath to the Chief Election Commissioner regarding serious loopholes and vulnerabilities in the use of VVPAT machines which made EVMs susceptible to potential hacking.