Don't Delete Existing or Reload Any New Data In EVMs: Supreme Court Directs Election Commission

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) not to delete or reload any new data to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which is a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) after each round of elections are over. The top court was hearing a petition by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking directions to the poll body to verify the process of EVM memory burning process and uploading of symbols.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta heard the matter and directed the Election Commission that any engineer from the EVM manufacturing company should be able to provide information if someone wants to verify the polling data after elections.

ADR challenges Election Commission's SoPs on verifying poll data

In its petition, the ADR told the court that the Election Commission's Standard Operation Procedure (SoPs) on verifying polling data was not in accordance with its April 2024 order in EVM-VVPAT case.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) told ECI’s counsel and senior advocate Maninder Singh that its April 2024 order didn’t intend or direct to the poll body to delete or reload the polling data in the EVMs. The top court said that its previous judgement only intended that the engineer from the EVM manufacturing company should be able to verify the data in case someone asks for it after an election is over.

The SC bench told poll body's counsel that the court's earlier order in April 2024 directed it to verify the EVM data incase someone wants to ensure that no tampering has been done with it during the memory burning or symbol uploading process.

The Supreme Court further asked the polly body that why it was deleting the data.

"We didn't want such a detailed process that you reload something… do not erase the data, do not reload the data, all you need to do is somebody should come and verify, they have to examine," the Supreme Court said.

How long does the Control Unit store the result in its memory?

According to the Election Commission, the Control Unit can store the result in its memory until the data is deleted or cleared. Post every election, after the Election Petition period ECI ascertains the status of Election Petitions filed with the High Courts and releases the EVMs for further use if no Election Petitions have been filed.

In cases where Election Petitions have been filed the related EVMs are retained securely, as per defined protocol, till the final disposal of the petition. In cases if the court orders a recount the control unit can be reactivated by fitting the battery to display the results stored in its memory. Moreover, VVPAT slips are also preserved till final disposal of Election petition.

How are symbols loaded in Symbol Loading Unit (SLU)?

Symbols are loaded in Symbol Loading Unit (SLU), in presence of contesting candidates or their authorised representatives present, from a Windows Operating System based Symbol Loading Application (SLA) developed by the manufacturers i.e. BEL/ECIL.

The SLA is installed in the PC/Laptop provided by DEO/RO. In SLA a ‘VVPAT sheet’ or electronic ballot paper is created as graphic image (.bmp format) by entering Number of Candidates (including NOTA), name and symbol of the candidates.

This graphic image (in graphic data .bmp format/an image or picture in digital format) is uploaded into the SLU from PC/Laptop through a USB cable.