Elections are going on, there is no interference in between… Supreme Court shocks the petitioner demanding voting data.

New Delhi: Amidst the Lok Sabha elections, a hearing was held in the Supreme Court on the matter of making the data of booth wise voters public. During this time, the Supreme Court has refused to direct the Election Commission to publish information about the total votes cast per booth. The Supreme Court said that elections are going on and there cannot be interference in between. Along with this, the hearing of this case has been postponed till after the summer vacation.

Hearing will be held after summer vacation

The Supreme Court said that the sixth phase of elections will be held tomorrow (Saturday) and in such a situation we can understand the problem of the Election Commission because it requires manpower and we understand the situation on the ground. The Supreme Court has fixed the hearing on the ADR application in this case after the summer vacation. The bench led by Justice Dipankar Dutta said that we directly postpone the hearing on the application. Just commenting on why relief cannot be given at this stage. The Supreme Court said in its order that prima facie we are not in favor of giving relief at this stage. Justice Dutta said that the sixth phase elections will end on Saturday. Manpower is required to implement such things. We are very conscious of the ground situation and we feel that the matter should be heard after the summer holidays. We will hear the matter after the holidays.

Earlier during the hearing on Friday, senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, had argued that the application of May 19 is a classic case of how the law can be misused. On behalf of ADR, Dave said that it is not a case that the petition is not hearable. One case pertains to before the first counting and the other case pertains to after the counting.

Justice Dutta said that let’s listen to Maninder Singh first? Maninder Singh said that this petition is based only on suspicion and false allegations. The Supreme Court has given the decision and there is no scope for doubt. The judgment was given in the morning and then a petition was filed that a certain point was not covered in it. On April 26, the Supreme Court had rejected the petition for matching of EVMs and VVPATs. Such initiatives harm the interests of the people as the sanctity of elections is being questioned. In this case, the Supreme Court has already dealt with Section 49S and Form 17C in its decision given on April 26. It cannot be said merely on the basis of suspicion and apprehension that there is a mistake in the system. It has been said in the petition that there is a difference of 5-6 percent votes and this is a wrong allegation.