The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that a level of hypocrisy is attached to criticism about the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), saying “EVMs are tampered when you lose and fine if you win”. The oral remark was made by Justice Vikram Nath before dismissing a petition filed by evangelist KA Paul, who sought a judicial order to return to paper ballots. As the petitioner pointed out that even prominent leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had raised concerns about tampering with EVMs, the SC Bench  remarked, “When Chandrababu Naidu or Mr Reddy lost, they said that EVMs were tampered and when they won, they didn’t say anything. How can we see this? We are dismissing this. This is not the place where you argue all of this.” Petitioner KA Paul referenced Elon Musk’s remarks who had suggested that EVMs could be tampered with.

Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.

When petitioner-in-person KA Paul said he filed the PIL, the Bench  said, “You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?”. The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.

“Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different,” the Bench  retorted. After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the Bench  asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.

The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit. “Why you don’t want to be different from the rest of the world?” asked the Bench .

There was corruption and in June 2024, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded. “But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?” asked the Bench , adding “if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?”.

Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be 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,” noted the Bench.  When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the Bench  remarked, “We never received any money for any elections.” The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.

The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making. “Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future,” the petitioner said.

In April, the Court dismissed a batch of petitions seeking a return to the paper ballot system.   Terming the suspicion of manipulation of the EVMs “unfounded”, the apex court then rejected the demand for reverting to the old system, saying the polling devices were “secured” and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting.

However, the Court opened a window for aggrieved unsuccessful candidates securing second and third places in poll results and allowed them to seek verification of microcontroller chips embedded in five per cent EVMs per assembly constituency on a written request upon payment of a fee to the poll panel.  It directed that from May 1, the symbol loading units should be sealed and secured in a container and stored in a strongroom along with the EVMs for a minimum period of 45 days post-declaration of results.