The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted a proposal by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to permit engineers from Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) to certify that the burnt memory and software of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have not been tampered with, in cases where unsuccessful candidates seek verification.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta was hearing applications seeking compliance with the Court’s April 26, 2024 judgment, which had opened a window for defeated candidates to verify EVM microcontrollers and symbol loading units (SLUs) under defined conditions.
In its affidavit, the Election Commission said it would not erase or reload data on EVMs in cases where verification had been requested by candidates. The Commission also proposed amending its technical Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure transparency in the verification process.
Taking note of the proposal, the bench ordered that engineers from BEL and ECIL — the manufacturers of EVMs — would be required to issue a certification affirming that no tampering had occurred with the burnt memory or embedded software of the machines. The Court emphasized that the integrity of the verification process must be preserved without any unnecessary data erasure.
“What we intended was that, if after the polls somebody asks, the engineer should come and certify that, according to him, in their presence, there is no tampering in any of the burnt memory or microchips. That’s all. Why do you erase the data?” remarked the Chief Justice during the hearing.
The Court clarified that its original judgment did not require the Election Commission to erase or reload data, but only mandated verification by the engineers in presence of the applicant. The Court also stated that if a candidate requested a mock poll, the Election Commission could conduct it.
The plea was filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on December 23, 2024, urging strict compliance with the April 2024 ruling. ADR had alleged that the SOP framed by the poll panel was not in accordance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines and failed to ensure meaningful verification of EVM integrity.
The Supreme Court had previously ruled against reverting to paper ballots, stating that EVMs were more secure and had helped eliminate malpractices like booth capturing and bogus voting. However, it allowed candidates who secured the second or third position to seek verification of EVM microcontrollers in up to 5% of EVMs per assembly constituency by submitting a written request and paying a prescribed fee.
The Court had also directed that from May 1, 2024, onwards, the SLUs be sealed in containers and stored in strongrooms with the EVMs for at least 45 days post-results to allow time for verification requests.
