Advocate Mehmood Pracha Today (April 4th) filed a petition with the Supreme Court, requesting directives for all elections nationwide to be conducted using traditional ballot papers rather than Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
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NEW DELHI: Advocate Mehmood Pracha today took a legal step by petitioning the Supreme Court with a request to mandate the use of ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for conducting all elections across India. This legal motion comes at a pivotal time as Pracha prepares to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Rampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh as an independent candidate.
His argument hinges on the provisions laid out in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which he interprets to prescribe the exclusive use of ballot paper for elections.
Pracha’s plea elaborates on the statutory preference for traditional voting methods, asserting,
“Elections by the use of Ballot Papers and Ballot Boxes is the rule… Hence, all elections have to be held by the use of Paper Ballots and resort to voting machines may be considered by the Election Commission only on a case-to-case basis under exceptional circumstances and that too for justifiable reasons, which have to be delineated in a specific order.”
This petition has been filed as an interlocutory application within an ongoing case before the Supreme Court, which has previously seen the apex court request the Election Commission of India’s standpoint on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding a comprehensive count of Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in elections.
Within his application, Pracha emphasizes that the existing legal framework, as per the Representation of the People Act, does not accommodate the replacement of paper ballots with EVMs. He articulates a critical stance on the interpretative and practical challenges that arise from substituting ‘EVM’ for ‘Ballot Paper’ and ‘Ballot Box’ in the electoral context, pointing out the unique safeguards like counterfoils provided by the traditional voting system to uphold the integrity and sanctity of the electoral process-measures he argues are inapplicable or unachievable with EVMs.
Mehmood Pracha is not just a legal advocate entering the political fray; he comes with a rich background in law, having been registered with the Bar Council of Delhi since 1988 after graduating from the Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. His legal challenge against the use of EVMs in Indian elections underscores a broader debate on ensuring transparency, security, and trust in the electoral process, reflecting concerns over technological interventions in voting mechanisms.
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on VVPAT
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on EVM
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