Supreme Court directs Election Commission to preserve voting videos
What's the story
The Supreme Court of India has ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to preserve video recordings of polling activities.
The directive was issued by a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar while hearing petitions challenging the ECI's decision to raise the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,200 to 1,500.
The court has given the ECI three weeks to file an affidavit in response.
Legal challenge
PIL challenges ECI's decision on voter numbers
The Supreme Court's directive came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Indu Prakash Singh.
Singh's PIL challenges the ECI's August 2024 decision to increase the number of voters per polling station, claiming it was arbitrary and lacked data.
He raised concerns that this change could negatively impact voters in the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Bihar, and Delhi, with long queues or discouragement to vote.
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According to Singh, elections typically lasted 11 hours and took 60 to 90 seconds to cast a ballot, therefore 660 to 490 people could vote in a day at one polling station using one EVM.
Given the average voting percentage of 65.70%, it was understandable that a polling station designed to accommodate 1,000 electors saw approximately 650 turn up.
However, Singh's appeal stated that there were booths with voter turnouts ranging from 85 to 90%.
Argument
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had also filed PIL
"In such a situation, about 20% of voters will either end up standing in the queue beyond the voting hours or due to long waiting times, will abandon exercising their right to vote. Neither is acceptable in a progressive republic or a democracy," the petition said.
Notably, the bench had also sought a response from the Centre on January 15 in the PIL filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, challenging the amendment to the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961.