Calcutta High Court seeks report on EVM shortage for municipal polls

The Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) to submit a detailed report regarding a shortage of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units. This shortage poses a challenge for upcoming municipal elections scheduled for late November in seven municipalities, including Kolkata, Howrah, Bally, Haldia, Dhupguri, Kalimpong, and Kurseong.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Om Narayan Rai is examining whether polling data from machines currently held in administrative custody can be legally stored on hard disks. If such a procedure is deemed permissible, the preserved machines could be released for the civic polls without compromising pending election-related legal cases.

The SEC's current stock consists of 21,184 ballot units and 19,564 control units. The difficulty in securing sufficient machines stems from previous court orders requiring the preservation of certain EVMs for ongoing litigation. Formal election notifications are expected in the final week of October, with results likely in early December.