The state election commission moved Calcutta High Court on Monday seeking the early disposal of cases relating to the 2021 panchayat elections.
It argued that the pendency of these cases had left a huge number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) entangled in litigation, resulting in an acute shortage of machines for the upcoming civic elections across the state.
“Since many EVMs are lying with the court due to pending proceedings, the commission is facing an immense problem in holding polls for setting up civic bodies across the state due to acute shortage of voting machines,” the commission submitted before the court.
The commission is looking to hold elections to municipal bodies and corporations in November and December. However, 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 a division bench of Chief Justice R.V. Ghuge and Justice Om Narayan Rai, seeking a way out of the impasse.
The commission is concerned that the EVMs cannot be reused until the relevant legal requirements for the preservation of election records have been addressed.
During the hearing on Monday, the division bench 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.
The court’s direction seeks to establish whether the relevant electronic records can be safely retained in an alternative form, potentially allowing the machines to be made available for future elections without compromising the requirements arising from the pending cases.
The bench issued an interim direction asking the SEC to place its position on record and fixed the matter for further hearing on October 14.
The next hearing on Wednesday is expected to focus on the commission’s affidavit and the feasibility of preserving EVM and VVPAT data on hard disks while complying with the applicable court orders.