Political party cannot interfere in the functioning of Election Commission, ECI to SC

The Election Commission of India has filed its response to the petition filed in the Supreme Court by Congress leader and Member of Parliament, Kamal Nath. Kamal Nath petition prays that VVPAT slips be verified with votes counted in at least 10 percent randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly constituency/ Assembly segment..The petition which was filed in the light of upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh had made a slew of allegations including botched by voters list, tampering of EVM and VVPAT machines and failure to provide draft voters list in MS Word format..On petitioner’s contention regarding the complaint by AICC regarding 60 lakh fake voters finding a place in the voters’ list, the ECI has responded stating that the said figure is false since the same was arrived at taking into limited parameters of a common name, relation and gender..“It is significant to mention that the other necessary parameters of age and photo have not been included by the complainant in reaching the said figure of 60 lakhs. .The reply states that after due verification, only 8728 entries were found to be in repeated entry category and appropriate action has been initiated as per law in those cases..Regarding, the contention that the draft electoral roll has to be put on public domain in text format, the ECI has interpreted clause 11.2.2.2 of the Manual of Electoral Roll 2016 to contend that “text format” refers to the text of the elector’s details and not an ‘editable’ or ‘non-image’ format.. “The aforesaid clause clearly mentions that the draft electoral roll is required to be put up in public domain at the Chief Electoral Officer’s website in pdf format. The second part of the aforesaid clause clearly envisages that the draft of the electoral roll required to be put up in the text mode and no photographs would appear against the elector’s details. Thus, the provision is very clear that the requirement of electoral roll to be put up in text mode only means that the text of the elector’s details has to be included and not his/ her photograph. It does not by any stretch of imagination or interpretation mean or imply that the draft electoral roll ha to be put up in the website in an editable or non-image pdf format.” .Regarding why the electoral roll was provided in non-image format in Rajasthan, the ECI has submitted that the same was an inadvertent error and the ECI has initiated action against the concerned CEO, Rajasthan who has been replaced..“ECI is committed to ensuring free and fair elections and shall take necessary action against any officer in defiance of any rules/ instructions/manual, if so required”, the response states..On the use of VVPAT machines, the ECI has responded that while it had stated that it will ensure 100 percent coverage of VVPAT in all future elections, VVPAT machines alone might not be used thereby implying that some other machines could also be used along with VVPAT..“The Election Commission of India never stated that “VVPAT machines alone will be used for all forthcoming elections”. The said all Political Parties meet was conducted by Election Commission of India on 12.05.2017 which was attended by 7 national parties and 35 State parties. At the said meeting the ECI highlighted the wide range of technical, administrative protocol and procedural safeguards that fortify EVMs and VVPATs against any sort of manipulation or tampering. Furthermore, the ECI also informed the political parties present that it would ensure 100 % coverage of VVPATs in all future elections to the Parliament and State Assemblies. However, it was never stated by the ECI that it would only use VVPAT machines for all forthcoming elections.” .On malfunctioning of VVPATS with votes being cast in favour of one party alone, the ECI has “strenuously denied the same”..“Allegation is strenuously denied as entirely false and incorrect…some VVPAT machines fail on account of malfunction or defect in one of its several mechanical or electronic parts..in such an event the VVPAT will stop working entirely. In no event has the VVPAT displayed a false tally or manipulated vote count.”.The ECI has also contested the petitioner’s right to approach the Court questioning the decisions taken by the ECI stating that the petitioner or his political party cannot time and again approach the Court questioning the decision taken by ECI.“It is not within the jurisdiction of the petitioner and/ or his party/ organisation to question the measures taken by the Election Commission of India with regard to the aforementioned issues…. .The petitioner and the political party to which he stands affiliated cannot approach this Court time and again so as to re-agitate the same issue and interfere in the functioning of a Constitutional Authority such as the Election Commission and more particularly cannot seek to instruct or direct the Election Commission of India to conduct elections (including implementation of VVPAT) in a particular manner.” .Stating that right to vote is only a statutory right and therefore, a petition under Article 32 is not maintainable, the ECI has alleged that the petition is an abuse of the process of the court and the reliefs sought are incapable of being granted by the Supreme Court.