Madhya Pradesh high court dismissed on Friday a petition filed by a Congress leader alleging lack of sufficient security arrangements for electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines used during the assembly elections on November 28. The petition was filed by former Congress MLA Naresh Saraf.

The bench of chief justice SK Seth and justice Vijay Kumar Shukla said in its judgment that a careful reading of reports submitted by the chief electoral officer of Madhya Pradesh to the Election Commission showed the strong rooms for storing polled EVMs, VVPATs and warehouses for unused, reserved EVMs and VVPATs were separate buildings with separate security arrangements.

The bench said, “The strong room with polled EVMs/VVPATs were sealed immediately after poll to be opened on the day of counting on December 11. These strong rooms are under the security of central armed paramilitary forces with a triple cordon of security.” Dismissing the petition the bench said no further action was required. State Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “We will look into the judgment and file an appeal before the court, if it is required.”

State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “The judgment has endorsed our view that the Congress is raising the issue of EVM and its security to have an excuse in face of its defeat in the state assembly elections.”

The EC has repeatedly denied the charges and asserted there was adequate security outside strong rooms.

First Published: Dec 07, 2018 23:30 IST