[AAP vs BJP] “Preservation of Each EVM’s Data Will Cost Rs 40,000”: ECI Tells Delhi HC

Preservation of each EVM’s data will cost Rs 40,000, the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the Delhi High Court Yesterday (Sept 4) during a hearing on a plea filed by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti challenging the election of BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. When pointed out that with 1,490 such machines, the cost of preserving them would come to around Rs 6 crore, Bharti informed the court that he doesn’t “have that kind of money.”

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NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the Delhi High Court that the cost of preserving the data from each Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) would be Rs 40,000.

This was in response to a plea filed by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, who is challenging the election of BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. Bharti, who contested the New Delhi constituency seat against Swaraj, requested the preservation of the EVM data, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader engaged in “corrupt practices” during the election.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora‘s court was specifically addressing the issue of preserving the EVM data. When it was pointed out that the cost of preserving data from 1,490 EVMs would amount to approximately Rs 6 crore, Bharti informed the court that he doesn’t “have that kind of money.”

In his election petition, Bharti had claimed there was a mismatch between the votes registered on the EVMs and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system. He noted that while Bansuri Swaraj secured 4.53 lakh votes, he himself received around 3.74 lakh votes.

Bharti is seeking to have the election declared void on the grounds of alleged corruption and is calling for Swaraj’s disqualification from contesting any election for the next six years.

Faced with the high cost of preserving the EVM data, Bharti suggested that the data could instead be dumped onto a hard disk and retrieved as needed during the election petition proceedings. He added that this approach would be more feasible than preserving all the EVM machines.

However, the court emphasized that its focus was on the preservation of the EVMs used in the election and would pass orders accordingly.

Bharti’s concerns about the high cost of securing the EVM data led him to express his frustration publicly, where he noted on social media platform X-

“During hearing of my election petition today in Delhi High Court, I was asked to deposit 6 crores to get EVM data dumped on a hard drive.”

The ECI had earlier issued a notification on June 1, detailing the procedure for verifying and checking EVM memory after the election results were announced.

The notification also outlined the costs of such verification, which are set at Rs 40,000 per set of EVMs, including the ballot unit, control unit, and VVPAT. The costs are to be borne by the candidate requesting the verification.

Bharti’s case has drawn attention to the financial barriers that can arise in election disputes, with the AAP MLA questioning whether the costs make elections “elitist” and prevent ordinary candidates from ensuring electoral transparency.

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