New Delhi
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal urged the Supreme Court to instruct the Election Commission on Friday, to safeguard the logs of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for a minimum of two to three years. He highlighted the importance of declaring the records of each voting phase before counting to prevent any illegal election outcomes.
Sibal proposed that if the Election Commission couldn’t upload Form 17C, which details the votes polled in a polling station, the state electoral officer should handle the data.
Highlighting the significance of the EVM logs, Sibal explained that they document crucial information such as the voting duration, invalid votes, and voting times. He criticized the current practice of the Election Commission storing this data for only 30 days, stressing the necessity of preserving it for a longer period.
He urged the Supreme Court to direct the Election Commission to safeguard these logs and make all voting phase records public before counting to ensure fair elections.
Sibal also advocated for transparency in sharing data, stating that the Election Commission should willingly disclose information about how votes were cast before the counting process concludes.
These statements from Sibal followed the Election Commission’s recent assertion to the apex court that indiscriminate disclosure of polling station-wise turnout data could disrupt the election process and potentially lead to manipulation of electoral data.
