HC directs DU to secure EVMs used in varsity polls

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Delhi University to securely keep the EVMs used in the student union election on a plea by three candidates of the Congress backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) challenging the polls.

Justice Siddharth Mridul said that beside the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), paper trail and other documentation also be kept safely.

The court also sought response from Delhi University, chief electoral officer appointed by the university, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Election Commission of India and the three ABVP candidates who have won the recent elections.

Three NSUI candidates— Sunny Chhillar, Meena and Saurabh Yadav— had moved the high court challenging the elections on the grounds that voting machines were reportedly tampered with.

The plea sought that EVMs used in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls be secured to ensure they do not go missing.

It also claimed that data from seven EVMs had gone missing.

The plea said that EVMs were tampered with and questioned as to how "privately procured" EVMs could have been used in the polls held on September 12.

Last Thursday, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Delhi said that EVMs used in the DUSU election were not issued by the Election Commission and seem to have been procured privately.

The ABVP, the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, on September 13 bagged three posts including that of the president in the student union elections.

The NSUI won only one seat, while the AAP's student wing CYSS, which fought the elections in alliance with the Left-backed AISA, failed to open its account.

Polling took place at 52 centres in the colleges and there were as many as 23 candidates in the fray.