Supreme Court declines to entertain plea against ballot papers in Punjab local body polls

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the Punjab State Election Commission’s decision to conduct urban local body elections using ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Polling for 104 municipal bodies, including eight municipal corporations in Punjab, is scheduled for May 26, with vote counting on May 29.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi heard the petitioner’s counsel, who argued that the elections were being held through ballot papers in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) case, which held that EVMs should be the norm.

The bench, however, declined to intervene at this stage, pointing out that the elections were just a day away.

“Elections are tomorrow, what can be done now? There is no time left,” the bench observed.

The court also questioned the delay by petitioner Ruchita Garg in approaching it.

“You knew that elections were to be held. There have been several rounds of litigation earlier,” it remarked, adding that the petitioner need not have waited for the formal notification of the election schedule.

The bench further refused the request to appoint an observer for the polls, terming it a “very serious interdiction” that the court would not entertain.

The plea was filed against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had dismissed Garg’s petition challenging the State Election Commission’s decision to switch to ballot papers.

The State Election Commission had informed the High Court that it was forced to use ballot papers as the Election Commission of India could not provide EVMs as per the decided schedule.