Legal dispute: AIADMK leaders want the Madras High Court to declare Section 61A of the Representation of the People Act, which promotes the use of EVMs, unconstitutional. |Photo credit: M. SRINATH
In the last week of November 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking the reintroduction of ballot papers in lieu of EVMs. The court noted that the machines could only be blamed if a party lost an election. More than two decades ago, in Tamil Nadu, a few months before the state faced the 2001 assembly elections, the AIADMK began a legal battle against the use of EVMs.
In November 1998, the Election Commission of India (ECI) introduced EVMs in 16 parliamentary constituencies spread across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and the national capital Delhi. In February 1999, the machines were used for by-elections in seven parliamentary constituencies in four states and Delhi. Four months later, the entire state of Goa was covered by the EVM in the assembly elections. Between September and October that year, machines were used for voting in 46 Lok Sabha constituencies, including Chennai South, Chennai Central, Madurai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
successful test
In February 2000, these machines were used in 45 of Haryana’s 90 constituencies. Encouraged by the successful experiment, the ECI decided to use EVMs across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry a year later, when assembly elections were due to be held that summer, according to ECI documents.
It was then that AIADMK president Jayalalithaa wrote to chief election commissioner (CEC) MS Gill. A news report published in The Hindu on February 8, 2001 stated that she believed that electronic voting machines were ineffective even in “scientific and technologically advanced developed countries” and therefore recommended that these machines be abandoned in favor of ballot papers. She then filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking a ban on the use of EVMs by the CEC in the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. A perusal of the ECI literature on the history of EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) shows that the AIADMK was the first party to oppose the use of EVMs on a large scale, first in the Madras High Court and then in Madras Sis High Court.
US election sparks controversy
The AIADMK leader pointed out in the petition that even Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Defense Minister George Fernandes opposed the use of EVMs when they were in the Opposition. She pointed to the debate during the 2000 US presidential election, in which the unreliability of computer machines was “clearly exposed”. She also wants the court to declare Section 61A of the Representation of the People Act, which promotes the use of EVMs, unconstitutional and contrary to the Act itself. AIADMK allies Pattali Makkal Katchi, Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and All India Forward Bloc are also petitioners in the case.
Just a month before the polling date, the High Court on April 10 dismissed all concerns raised by the petitioners about the machine’s efficacy and declined to discuss the technical aspects. The bench, comprising Chief Justice NK Jain and Justice K. Sampath, said they agreed with the Election Commission and found no reason to ban the use of EVMs. The AIADMK then filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the high court ruling. Two weeks later, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition saying that Articles 326 and 327 cannot be interpreted to take away the jurisdiction of the ECI or dilute its powers under Article 324. The judgment in the case of Pillai (1984) is not applicable to the AIADMK case because in the former case, the use of EVM was sought through an executive order, which was not allowed and violated the electoral conduct rules. Since Section 61A was incorporated into the Act in 1989, the previous decision could not provide any assistance to the petitioner.
huge victory
However, the AIADMK-led alliance scored a resounding victory in the assembly elections with a vote share of 49.8%. The party secured a simple majority on its own, winning 132 of the 141 constituencies in which it contested. Later, the party remained silent on the issue. It took up the matter three years later when it suffered a crushing defeat along with the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2009, contrary to expectations in some quarters, the AIADMK-led front secured only 13 out of 39 seats with a vote share of 37.66%. The party once again urged the ECI to restore the votes, arguing that the EVM was rigged in the election. A few years later, the federal government informed the Lok Sabha that when the ECI invited Jayalalithaa to visit the committee or send a representative to demonstrate how to tamper with EVMs in September 2009, there was no response from the AIADMK. In fact, Karunanidhi publicly asked Jayalalithaa why she didn’t rush to New Delhi to demonstrate how to tamper with the EVM. Since then, the AIADMK has not complained about the EVM despite facing successive electoral setbacks since 2019.
Published – January 3, 2025 12:59 AM (IST)