Proceedings in Assembly on EVM tampering illegal

A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to declare the proceedings of the second part of the fifth session of the legislative assembly held on May 9 — where a special session on a short duration discussion on alleged tampering of EVMs and threat to democracy was conducted — as “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”

The matter came up before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Harishankar, who asked the petitioner to prove the maintainability of the plea.

The petition filed by advocate Abhishek Aanand Rai contended that MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, with the permission of the Speaker, gave a live demonstration on how the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with.

The plea contended that the petitioner was “aggrieved” with the proceedings where Delhi Speaker Ram Niwas Goel allowed a short discussion. It said the proceedings of the House were violative of the provisions of the Constitution and the principle of separation of powers and added that it sought a “declaratory judgment” on the issue of constitutionality of the proceedings.

Appearing for the Delhi government, Standing Counsel Ramesh Singh raised questions as to the maintainability of the plea. Following this, the court directed both parties to give written submissions stating the laws on which they would rely on  to support their contentions.

As per the plea, the rules and standing orders which regulated the procedure of the legislature, mandated that a member could not express any opinion on any matter under consideration of a court of justice.

But, the resolution moved by Saurabh Bharadwaj was of an issue , which was pending adjudication by the Supreme Court. It said the rules prohibited admissibility of any resolution if it contained arguments and inferences. It also claimed that the proceeding was unconstitutional as the legislature did not have power to discuss an issue in the exclusive domain of the Election Commission.

“Because if such unconstitutionality and illegality is not decided then a confusing precedent will be set of not only ousting the constitutional courts but also disturbing the fine balance of power much crucial for survival and existence of a vibrant democracy,” the plea said.

COURT TO DECIDE

• The matter is listed for February 8 next year.
   
• A special Delhi Assembly session on May 9 had seen the Aam Aadmi Party government enacting a dramatic demonstration of  “EVM tampering” on the floor of the House.