New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (April 18) asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to look into the allegation that extra votes were recorded in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a mock poll on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) held in Kerala.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta were pointed to media reports highlighting this discrepancy by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms. According to LiveLaw, Bhushan cited a report in Manorama Online on the mock polls held in the Kasargod constituency, after which both the Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front complained to the district collector that at least four EMVs were registering extra votes for the BJP.
The bench asked asked senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the ECI to “check it up”.
The court is hearing petitions seeking a complete count of the paper trail generated by EVMs after elections. Thursday was the second day of hearing. On Tuesday, the court had appeared wary of ordering a complete paper trail.
