Petition in Delhi HC to change voting machines 4 days prior to MCD polls

AAP Candidate Mohammad Tahir Hussain has filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the State Election Commission to use second generation EVMs with VVPAT (Voter-verifiable paper audit trail) in the forthcoming MCD polls..The petition has been filed four days before the MCD elections, which are to be held on April 23, 2017..Appearing on behalf of Hussain, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising submitted:.The Supreme court in Subramanian Swamy vs. Election Commission of India termed the second generation EVMs as the ‘safest.’Paper trail is an indispensible requirement of elections to restore faith of the voter.There are more than 13,000 such machines available with the Election Commission of India, which must be made available to the State Election Commission.Second generation machines would be available as there are no other elections being held simultaneously.The petitioners have been trying to contact the State Election Commission since April 3, but got a response only on April 14..Appearing on behalf of the State Election Commission, Standing Counsel Sumeet Pushkarna submitted:.The petition is filed merely 4 days before the elections, by the ruling Government seeking to remove all the voting machines. This implies that the real intention is to postpone the elections.Some speculative and unsubstantiated reports about tampering of the machines are used to buttress the arguments.The same machines were used when Aam Aadmi Party swept the Delhi Assembly elections.The Constitution and SC guidelines clearly impose the highest degree of bar on the courts regarding interference in the electoral process..The Delhi High Court bench of Justice A.K. Pathak asked the authorities to file counter affidavits and agreed to hear the matter on April 21. However, the Court refused to delay the elections. The Court said,.“Nothing can be done merely 4 days before the election. It is too late. The elections cannot be postponed.”.The matter will now be heard on April 21.