On Thursday, the Uttarakhand High court issued a notice to the Elections Commission and also the State government that they will be seizing EVMs. This decision was taken after a petition was filed about EVM tampering in the Vikasnagar constituency of Dehradun.
BJP Munna Singh won the Assembly elections in February from Vikasnagar constituency. This was previously held by former cabinet minister and Congress nominee Navprabhat, who lost by 6,418 votes.
Navprabhat, following the defeat, filed a petition in the High Court. Justice Shailesh Kumar Gupta notified the EC of Uttarakhand and the State Chief Secretary Chauhan, to reply within six weeks of receiving the notice. HC also directed the judicial magistrate of Vikasnagar to seize EVMs and keep them in ‘his custody.’
Navprabhat alleged that many fake names were listed in the voter’s list in the constituency. This included people, including Chauhan, being registered in two different places as voters. Chauhan has confirmed this notice by the High Court and said that EC has many times proven that EVMs are tamper proof. He also said that he will reply to the High Court in the time frame that has been allotted to the EC and Chauhan.
