Delhi High Court Rejects Somnath Bharti's Prayer To Preserve Burnt Memory Of EVMs Used In LS Polls In Plea Against BJP's Bansuri Swaraj's Election

The Delhi High Court has rejected the prayer of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti seeking a direction upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide him with the burnt memory of all 1489 EVMs used in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from New Delhi Parliamentary Constituency.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was dealing with Bharti's plea challenging Swaraj's election on the grounds of 'corrupt practices'.

However, the court clarified that the returning officer is at liberty to release 1490 EVMs used in the polls to the ECI for purposes of other elections.

“Though, there is no dispute with respect to counting or recounting of votes, however, in terms of the statement made by the learned counsel for Respondent No. 3 on 20.08.2024, Respondent No. 3 is directed that all the VVPAT paper slips taken out from drop box of VVPATs and kept in a paper envelope, as certified by Respondent No. 3 in the certificate dated 04.06.2024, be preserved as per the procedure prescribed by ECI until the next date of hearing,” the court said.

It noted that from the New Delhi Constituency, Swaraj emerged as the highest polled candidate after securing 78,370 more votes than Bharti.

The court also said that the challenge in the petition to Swaraj's election from the New Delhi Constituency does not relate to counting or recounting of votes.

“This Court is, therefore, satisfied that there is no requirement for ECI to preserve the EVMs deployed in the New Delhi Parliamentary Constituency, considering the forthcoming elections across different parts of the country. Needless to state that reference to the EVM includes Balloting Units, Controlling Unit and VVPAT,” the court said.

It further added that Bharti cannot seek the burnt memory of 1489 EVMs in law and he was entitled to seek the burnt memory of only 75 EVMs. Even for the 75 EVMs, Bharti must be circumspect and need not l ask for checking and verification in a routine manner, it added.

The court concluded that Bharti's oral request for seeking burnt memory of the 1489 EVMs was whimsical and untenable both in law and in facts.

The matter will now be heard on November 05.

Bharti also contested the seat but was declared as lost by the Returning Officer on June 04. As per the plea, Bharti secured 374815 votes whereas Swaraj secured 453185 votes.

The AAP leader has alleged that Raaj Kumar Anand, a candidate from Bahujan Samaj Party, was in fact set up by the BJP to help Swaraj win against Bharti.

He has claimed that Anand was a minister in the AAP Government in the national capital and was active in campaigning for him till April 09 but he suddenly resigned from the party on April 10.

“He resigned from his ministry because of the misuse of the agencies like ED/CBI/IT against him by respondent no. 3(The Returnirrg Officer) and her party,” the election petition states.

It adds that on the election day, Bharti was shocked to see that booth agents of Swaraj had her pamphlets displaying her ballot number, photo, election symbol and photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was showing the same to the voters, asking them to vote for her ballot. According to Bharti, such an act qualifies to be a comupt practice.

“That thene are many people who noticed some BJP workers distributing money and materials like Saaris and Suits to some residents of the locality. They were going from door-to-door and cross-checking the house number, voters residing in the said house with the electoral rolls that they were carrying. The said persons after satisfying themselves about the voters in each house were marking the names in the electoral rolls,” the plea reads.

It adds that BJP's entire election campaign, and especially her campaign, was religious in nature and vote was sought on the prohibited lines of religion.

“Speeches of the respondent no. 1 reveals that she spoke a language in her speeches which is to divide the voters on the line of religion,” it adds.

Bharti has sought Swaraj's disqualification from contesting any election, either to any state assembly or Parliament, for a period of six years as per law.

Title: Somnath Bharti v. Bansuri Swaraj and Others

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 985