The Madras High Court Thursday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to tally every vote cast through EVMs with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slip by physically counting all VVPAT slips generated on polling days in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.A bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad noted that the Supreme Court was already hearing a matter seeking similar relief.The Court said that it would, therefore, be appropriate to dismiss the present PIL filed by one F Camilus Selva.Selva’s counsel S Xavier Felix, however, continued to press for relief and said that the High Court could tag the present PIL with the one pending before the Supreme Court for hearing.This prompted the Court to ask whether the petitioner realised the “implication of such request?”“Do you understand the implications of your request? Is it feasible? Is there any propriety, or any legal basis for it? The Supreme Court can request cases to be linked with ones pending before high courts, but can a high court do the same?” the CJ Gangapurwala said before dismissing the PIL.
TAGS: Madras High Court PIL Election Commission of India EVMs VVPAT Lok Sabha elections
