The Election Commission of India denied to provide information on the RTI application filed by Rtd. IAS officer M.G. Devasahayam on a representation titled as “Compliance of EVM voting with basis and essential requirements of Democracy Principles and integrity and credibility of electronic voting and counting in Electoral Democracy-Posers” was sent to the Election Commission via email on May 2, 2022 and was delivered in a hard copy on May 5, 2022 to the ECI office. As no positive response and answer received from the Election Commission. The applicant filed a RTI application before the ECI.
M.G. Devasahayam, the applicant asked the Election Commission of India through RTI application dated November 22, 2022, information on the following points:
“1. Name and designations of persons to whom the representation was forwarded/or shared.
- Names of public authorities to whom the representation was forwarded/ or shared.
- Details of any meeting held by the ECI where the issues raised in the representation were discussed indicating the following particulars –
- Date of meetings, b. Names and designations of persons who attended, c. Copy of minutes/deliberations of the meetings
- Copy of all correspondence/communication related to the representation
- Copy of all file notings related to the representation, and
- I would like to inspect all the information and records held by the ECI regarding the action taken on the representation. Kindly let me know the date, time and venue for the inspection”
The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) has not provided the information within the period of 30 days, aggrieved of the no-receipt of information from the CPIP, the Appellant filed a first appeal dated December 27, 2022 which was also not adjudicated by the First Appellate Authority.
Then, the Appellate preferred a second appeal before the Central Information Commission on 01.03.2023. During the course of hearing appellant stated that the relevant information has not been furnished by the PIO till date. He stated that the First Appeal was also not adjudicated upon by the FAA. Appellant further added that the instant RTI Application has been filed online on the ECI portal and the question of not having received the RTI Application does not arise.
ECI responded that the instant RTI Application was not received in their office. He affirmed to furnish point-wise reply qua the instant RTI Application to the Appellant within 30 days.
After recording the statements made by both the appellant and the ECI, CIC Heeralal Samariya slammed the Election Commission of India for not replying to the RTI application of the appellant on EVMS for more than a year and said “Commission, after perusal of case records and submissions made during hearing, expresses severe displeasure over the conduct of the then PIO in not having provided any reply to the RTI Application within the time frame stipulated under the RTI Act. Therefore, Commission directs the then PIO through the present PIO to furnish a written explanation for the gross violation of the provisions of the RTI. In doing so, if any other persons are also responsible for the omission, then the PIO shall serve a copy of this order on such other persons under intimation to the Commission and ensure that written submissions of all such concerned persons are sent to the Commission. The said written submission of the then PIO along with submissions of other concerned persons, if any, should reach the Commission within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order.”
CIC Heeralal Samariya further directed the ECI to examine the RTI application and provide point-wise reply with regards to the RTI Application, to the Appellant, free of cost via speed post, within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order and accordingly compliance report to this effect be duly sent to the Commission by the PIO. “In doing so, PIO must make sure that information which is exempted from disclosure under RTI Act, 2005 must not be disclosed to the Appellant and same must be redacted under section 10 of the RTI Act, 2005 prior to the said disclosure” CIC ordered on April 28, 2024.
The order of CIC dated April 28, 2024 can be read here:
In pursuance to CIC order, ECI Reply to the Appellant
CPIO, Election Commission of India in pursuance to the CIC order dated March 28, 2024 and in reference to the RTI application dated November 22, 2022 provided answer to the appellant, in which CPIO informed that the requisite information sought under points 1 to 6 is not available in any material form as mentioned in section 2(f) of the RTI Act 2005. It is informed that the Commission receives various letters and representations from various organizations, political parties, voters, candidates and many stakeholders. All those papers are dealt as per the extant protocols and accordingly processed.
ECI informed that as part of proactive transparency measure, in addition to EVM FAQs. Various resources on EVMs like EVM Status Paper, EVM PPT, EVM Manual, EVM-A commemorative publications are all available in the public domain. “It may also be noted that in Association for Democratic Reforms vs. Election Commission of India & Anr. (WP (C) No. 434 of 2023) judgement dated 26/04/2024, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has gone into the depth of various important EVM technical and administrative features. The same have been discussed and delineated in the order that may be accessed here.
The non-furnish the requisite information to the appellant shows the deliberate intention of the ECI to conceal the information from public domain with regards to the EVMs. As the uses of EVMs created doubts and questions among the various political parties, organization, activists and stakeholders in relation to the reliability and authenticity of the EVMs.
The Reply of ECI can be read here:
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