The Bombay High Court has directed a petitioner to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) with suggestions on how to prevent manipulation with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor observed that the issue was not within the domain of the Court and asked petitioner Nixon D’Silva to approach the ECI over the matter.
The Division Bench enquired the petitioner about the role of the court in the matter, asking whether the High Court was supposed to be a post office? It then directed D’Silva to approach the ECI.
D’Silva had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) on April 19 seeking implementation of his suggestions for removing any potential rigging of EVMs.
The social activist mentioned his petition before the Division Bench seeking urgent hearing.
The petitioner suggested implementing a lottery system in which a candidate’s name was randomly placed on the EVM. He further suggested that the order in which names were placed on EVMs be decided differently for each voting booth in the presence of stakeholders and polling officers.
He claimed that his suggestion was cost-effective as it could work around existing EVMs and eliminate the need for Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines.