A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the state election commission to erase data stored in electronic voting machines (EVMs) from the 2021 panchayat polls so they can be used in the upcoming municipal elections.
Responding to a petition by the commission, the bench headed by Chief Justice R.V. Ghuge directed the erasure of data from all EVMs, except those used in three specific wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Contai municipality.
The state election commission moved the high court on Monday seeking an early disposal of cases relating to the 2021 panchayat elections.
It argued that the pendency of these cases had left a huge number of EVMs entangled in litigation, resulting in an acute shortage of machines for the upcoming civic elections.
The commission is looking to hold elections to municipal bodies and corporations in Calcutta and Howrah by the end of this year. It told the court that the shortage of EVMs is posing a serious challenge.
The problem arises from the need to preserve EVMs and their records in connection with pending litigation.
The commission is also required to comply with a Supreme Court order concerning the preservation of the machines and forensic audits in the cases concerned.
The commission has approached the bench of the Chief Justice and Justice Om Narayan Rai, seeking a way out of the impasse.
The division bench had earlier asked the commission to file an affidavit explaining whether the data collected from EVMs and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines could be preserved on a hard disk.