- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to consider a petition seeking to put on the website Form 17C relating to the data of votes polled at each polling station after 48 hours of Lok Sabha election voting, following strong objection from the Election Commission. A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma refused to consider the application of NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, terming it prima facie based on doubt and apprehension.
The bench told senior advocates Dushyant Dave and AM Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, that we are not saying anything on merits, but at this time you do not have any good case. The bench further said that it is kept pending. We will investigate this at the appropriate time. Trust the concerned authorities (of the Election Commission). Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, argued that the application was a classic case of abuse of process as it was filed during the election process. Before the apex court he said that the application is based on suspicion, apprehension and false allegations on the integrity of the election process. It was also argued that he (the applicant) has attached the press releases issued by the Election Commission but has not attached the decision dated 26th April. That day the court had considered his petition regarding verification of VVPAT count with EVMs. He pleaded for heavy fine to be imposed on the applicants.
On this, the advocates of the applicants said before the court that the rules and procedure cannot be strictly implemented in public interest litigations. The bench, however, said that PILs these days have become ‘publicity’ petitions. When the bench asked the applicants why they did not approach the court regarding the matter before March 16 (when the election dates were announced). To this, the advocates for the applicants said that the information was made available only when disclosures were made in the first two phases of the elections. In this matter, the top court on May 17 issued a notice to the Election Commission to upload on the Commission’s website the account of votes recorded at all polling stations 48 hours after each phase of voting in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission had filed an affidavit in the apex court on May 22 saying that uploading Form 17C (account of votes cast at each polling station) on the website would not be appropriate. Can do mischief with the form. There is a possibility of tampering with the photographs of the form. Thus, it is likely to cause ‘a lot of inconvenience and distrust’.
