SC Rejects PIL Demanding Return To Ballot Papers

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL demanding junking the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and a return to the ballot papers in the future state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, saying doubts would always be there with any system.

Dismissing the PIL filed by NGO Nyaya Bhoomi, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who was heading the three-judge bench that heard the matter, said: "Every machine is capable of being used and misused and doubts will be there with every system."

The petitioner had contended that EVMs were prone to tampering and were thus not fit to be used in the interest of free and fair elections. It urged the court to intervene to bring back the old system of voting through ballot papers.

Despite the Election Commission's repeated assertions that its EVMs were tamper-proof and were kept in a three-tier security, the clamour around the issue has refused to die down.