Two NGOs alleged in the Supreme Court on Monday that the Election Commission (EC) has violated election rules by destroying the VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) data of last year's Lok Sabha polls before the conclusion of the statutory one-year period.
The NGOs - Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause -- referred to the response received through an RTI application from the EC and alleged before a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde that the VVPAT data was needed to be preserved for a period of one year - a rule of the Conduct of Election Rules.
"We do not look into it at the moment," the bench, also comprising justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant, said.
Appearing for the NGOs, lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the "shocking fact" had emerged in an RTI response and they would file an application in this regard.
The bench had earlier issued notice to the poll panel on the PIL seeking a probe into alleged discrepancies between the voter turnout figure and the number of votes counted in 347 constituencies during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.