New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to preserve video recordings of polling stations while a petition challenging the increase in the maximum number of voters per booth from 1,200 to 1,500 remains pending.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued the directive after the counsel representing the ECI sought additional time to respond to the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Indu Prakash Singh. The petitioner has contested the ECI’s August 2024 decision, arguing that the increase in voters per polling station lacks a data-driven basis.
"The counsel appearing for respondent number 1 prays for further time to file an affidavit. Let the affidavit be filed within three weeks from today. We deem it appropriate to direct respondent number 1 to maintain the CCTV recordings as they were doing earlier," the bench stated.
Legal Challenge to ECI’s Decision
On January 15, the Supreme Court sought responses from both the Centre and the ECI regarding a separate plea filed by Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh. That petition challenges recent amendments to the 1961 election rules, including the removal of public access to CCTV footage of polling stations.
Singh’s petition argues that the ECI’s decision to increase voter numbers per booth is arbitrary and could negatively impact voter participation in upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Bihar, and Delhi.
According to the petitioner, polling stations typically operate for 11 hours, and each voter takes approximately 60 to 90 seconds to cast a vote. Under these conditions, a single electronic voting machine (EVM) can accommodate between 490 and 660 voters per day. With an average voter turnout of 65.7%, a booth designed for 1,000 voters generally sees about 650 people casting their ballots.
However, Singh pointed out that in constituencies with turnout rates as high as 85-90%, an increase in the voter cap could lead to long queues, discouraging voters and potentially disenfranchising up to 20% of them.
Concerns Over Electoral Accessibility
The petition contends that a significant number of voters may be forced to wait beyond polling hours or abandon their right to vote due to excessive delays. "Neither is acceptable in a progressive republic or a democracy," the plea states.
While the Supreme Court had previously declined to issue a notice to the ECI on October 24, it permitted the petitioner to serve a copy of the plea to the poll panel’s standing counsel to obtain its response.
With the court now mandating the preservation of polling station video footage, the case remains a crucial development in the ongoing discourse over electoral transparency and voter accessibility in India.
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