New Delhi, 01 September (H.S.): The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition seeking the introduction of a ‘totaliser’ system for counting votes recorded through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during elections, has asked the Central Government to clarify its position on the proposal. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Suryakant asked the Centre whether there were any legal or practical difficulties in implementing the totaliser system. The court also directed the Election Commission of India to place its proposal on the matter before the Centre.

The petition has been filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. It seeks a system under which, instead of publicly disclosing the vote figures received by individual candidates at each polling booth while declaring the results of a Lok Sabha or Assembly constituency, the votes from the entire constituency would be announced as an aggregated result.

In his petition, Ashwini Upadhyay argued that, for instance, if votes from 14 EVMs were counted together, no candidate would be able to determine the voting pattern of a particular polling booth. This, he submitted, could protect voters in specific areas from possible political retaliation based on their voting preferences.

During the hearing, the court asked what specific benefit the totaliser system would offer to democracy. The Chief Justice observed that under the existing system, vote counting is conducted through an open and transparent process, making it possible to detect any irregularity or tampering, if it occurs.

Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed during the proceedings that, in principle, a totaliser could be an effective mechanism for maintaining the anonymity of voters’ choices. However, he pointed out that there is no clear provision under the existing law for its implementation and questioned how the court could direct its use in the absence of such a legal provision.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar