SC to hear PIL challenging use of EVMs

One-liner: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to consider listing a PIL challenging the Constitutional validity of a provision of the Representation of People Act which had led to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) instead of ballot papers for polls in the country.

Driving the news: A bench heard the submissions of a lawyer, who filed the plea, that the petition required hearing in view of upcoming assembly polls in five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand.

• Sharma said Section 61A of the Representation of People Act, which permitted the use of EVMs, was not passed by Parliament and hence can't be imposed

On the other side: The plea, which made the Union Law ministry a party, sought a declaration of the provision as void, illegal and unconstitutional as there was no provision of EVM.

• The upcoming assembly polls in the five states will be held between Feb 10 and Mar 10

Source: PTI