Page 175 - General Election

64. Historic Judgements – Reinforcing the

Integrity of e-Democracy

The trajectory of e-Democracy hasn’t been exactly linear in India. Over the years,
there have been instances when some political parties raised concerns regarding

the functioning of EVMs. However, while answering the petitions questioning the
integrity of EVMs, the important judgements by Bombay High Court, Delhi High

Court, and Karnataka High Court helped allay several doubts and fears.

Karnataka High Court (Michael The issue of possible tampering of EVM
Fernandes Vs CK Jafer Sharif and Ors has been raised before the Karnataka High
Election Petition No. 29 of 1999) Court. After going into all aspects of the
technological soundness and the

administrative measures involved in the
use of EVMs at elections in India, it was
held that the EVMs in India are credible,
reliable and totally tamperproof. The
Honorable Karnataka High Court held that
‘This invention is undoubtedly a great

achievement in the electronic and
computer technology and a national
pride’.
Kerala High Court (TA Ahammed In one of the cases as directed by the
Kabeer Vs AA Azeez and Ors Election Hon’ble High Court of Kerala in Election
Petition No. 4 of 2001) Petition No.4/2001, the process of
detecting votes cast by impersonators was
carried out before the Hon’ble Court in

the case of General Election from 125-
Evavipuram Assembly Constituency in
Kerala in 2001. The High Court in its order
dated 6.2.2002 had recorded its
appreciation on the efficiency of the
mechanism. The judgment of the Kerala

High Court in the said Election Petition
was upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court
in Civil Appeal (AIR 2003 SC 2271).
Delhi High Court (Viplav Sharma Vs In these cases, it was contended that the
Union of India and Ors CWP No. 5521 of Election Commission could use electronic
2004; Kunwar GS Chahan Vs Union of voting machines under section 61A only in
India CPW No. 5906 of 2004) selected constituencies having regard to
the circumstances of each case, and not

routinely in all the assembly
constituencies in a state. The above
petitions were dismissed by the Delhi High
Court on 23.5.2005.

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