New Delhi, Feb 18 (FN Bureau) The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the response of the Election Commission and the Centre on a petition seeking facilitation of e-voting system to enhance the citizen’s access to voting by decentralizing the voting system. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian was hearing the plea filed by one K Sathyan, native of Kerala. “How can law help you, if you are not in your constituency to cast vote? If the voter does not wish to come to the constituency, and also there is no denial of voting?”, the bench initially asked the petitioner expressing apprehension.
Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj appearing for the petitioner submitted that the electoral law needs to be brought in tune with the modern times and technology. He also suggested evolving an OTP system for the purpose of fault-free identification of voters without infringing privacy rights. The petitioner also prayed for a “double database” to be put in use to store the transactions in electronic voting machines (EVMs). “Several sections of voters including internal migrant labourers, employees, students and business professionals stationed outside the constituency as well as Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas migrant labourers on account of their profession, occupation, education, trade, business, marriage etc have been alienated from the electoral process for very long,” the petition stated.