Ahmedabad:

The Gujarat High Court today issued notices to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat and the central government through the ministry of Law and Justice on a petition filed by main opposition Congress in the state seeking immediate measures to replace the defective Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, setting up an expert committee to make it tamper-proof or else conduct of assembly polls slated to be held in December this year using erstwhile ballot paper system.

The division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Alpesh Kogje fixed November 13 as the next date of hearing on the petition filed by GPCC spokesperson Himanshu Patel on behalf of the party.

The counsel of the petitioner Pankajbhai Champaneri said that prayer regarding setting up of an expert committee comprising software and computer experts and others to suggest ways to make EVMs and VVPAT machines tamper-proof has also been made in the wake of large scale defect in the units during the test before the election.

‘It has also been prayed that the defective machines should immediately be taken in to custody of the respective district judges for further examination. We have also requested the court to consider the alternative of conducting the election through erstwhile ballot paper system of polling. Many advanced counties like France and Germany have re-adopted ballot paper system. There was no procedural difference in the two systems EVM and ballot except for the counting. For the fairness of election ballot system was more reliable,’ he said.

The court has issued notices to the ECI, CEO and ministry of Law and Justice.

Meanwhile Patel said that the Congress party was concerned about the issue of defective Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. Election Commission officials have found 3,550 VVPAT devices defective during the First Level Checks (FLC). In many cases if the button of Congress symbol was pushed the vote was transferred to the BJP. We want the court to take steps to ensure free and fair elections by clearing doubts about the EVM’s and VVPAT.

A total of over 70 thousand VVPAT linked EVM’s will be used for the Gujarat assembly polls. The election are to be held in two phases on December 9 and 14 and the counting will take place on December 18. Of the total 182 seats 89 will go to poll in the first phase.

DeshGujarat