EVMs Tampered Only When You Lose?: Supreme Court Rejects PIL on Bringing Back Ballot Papers

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that called for replacing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with ballot papers. The Court remarked that EVMs are often blamed only when candidates lose an election, highlighting a lack of substantive evidence to support the claim.

“What happens is, if you win the elections, EVMs are not tampered (with). When you lose elections, EVMs are tampered (with). When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered (with). Now, this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered (with),” a bench of justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale said while dismissing the PIL by evangelist K A Paul.

The comments were made as Paul, arguing on his own behalf, referenced tweets from 2018 by Naidu and recent posts on X by Reddy, which raised concerns about the potential tampering of EVMs following their electoral defeats.

Paul, addressing the bench that included Justice P.B. Varale, identified himself as the president of the Global Peace Initiative, a US-based NGO. He claimed to have rescued 3,10,000 orphans and 40 lakh widows through his organization. Paul also mentioned that he had recently returned from the Global Peace Summit in Los Angeles and that his Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had garnered support from approximately 180 retired IAS and IPS officers, as well as judges.

In response to a query from Justice Nath about his interest in politics, Paul clarified that his plea was not politically motivated but aimed at protecting democracy. He further stated that he had traveled to 155 countries, all of which used the ballot paper system for elections.

Paul argued that “every democracy in the world…has physical ballot paper” and only those countries ruled by dictators lack it. He further stated, “I have been to Russia with Putin, Syria with Assad and Liberia with Charles Taylor-got him out of prison. He is in prison now. His wife also attended the summit on Saturday. So, we are protecting democracy,” highlighting his global experience and commitment to safeguarding democratic values.

Justice Nath asked him why he did not want India to follow a different approach from the rest of the world. Paul responded that it was due to corruption in elections. To support his argument, the petitioner pointed out that the Election Commission had recently disclosed seizing Rs 9,000 crore, highlighting the scale of corruption in the electoral process.

Elon Musk Reference

Paul argued that voter turnout was only 32% and advocated for initiatives to raise awareness. He also accused industrialists and political parties of financial misconduct, claiming that an unnamed industrialist had spent ₹1,200 crore across six states to obtain contracts worth ₹48,000 crore. Furthermore, he referenced alleged remarks by Tesla CEO Elon Musk concerning the potential for tampering with EVMs.