Ahead Of Delhi Assembly Polls, INDI Alliance Plans To Move Supreme Court Over Alleged EVM Manipulation In Maharashtra

The INDI Alliance is reportedly planning to approach the Supreme Court alleging Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) manipulation in the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections.

The decision was made during a meeting held on Tuesday (10 November) evening between NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Opposition, including Pawar's party NCP(SP) suffered heavy losses in Maharashtra.

With the upcoming elections in Delhi Assembly, the Opposition bloc felt the need for some advance planning in this regard, NDTV reported citing sources.

The Aam Aadmi Party, led by Arvind Kejriwal, dominated Delhi's last two assembly elections. However, the BJP expects improved results this time, citing corruption charges against key AAP leaders, including Kejriwal.

The decision today was announced by Prashant Jagtap, leader of the NCP-Sharad Pawar who lost the assembly elections from the Hadapsar seat in Pune.

The Supreme Court has consistently backed the Electronic Voting Machines, and upheld their sanctity in several judgments.

During a recent hearing, the judges had even slammed petitioners over their tampering allegations, asking if "EVMs are not tampered when you win?"

"EVMs offer significant advantages. They have effectively eliminated booth capturing by restricting the rate of vote casting to four votes per minute, thereby prolonging the time needed and thus checking insertion of bogus votes," the court had said during a hearing earlier this year.

EVMs have also eliminated invalid votes, which were a major issue with paper ballots and had often sparked disputes during the counting process, the court said.

The Election Commission has rejected Opposition allegations saying it has found "no mismatch" between the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with their corresponding EVM numbers.

During the Kejriwal-Pawar meeting, noted lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi was also present.

They were joined by several leaders from Sharad Pawar's party who had faced electoral defeat.

The INDI bloc attributed its electoral loss in Maharashtra to alleged EVM manipulation favouring the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition.

In last month's elections, the BJP-led coalition secured 235 out of 288 assembly seats, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi managed only 46.

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