Delhi HC to hear plea on replacing black and white photos of candidates on EVMs
PIL sought directions to Election Commission of India and Delhi state election commission for fixing coloured photographs of candidates on ballot papers and EVMs
New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Friday agreed to hear a plea seeking to replace black and white photographs of candidates on ballot papers and electronic voting machines (EVMs) with coloured photographs.
The matter was brought before a bench headed by chief justice of the Delhi high court, G.Rohini, which agreed to hear the matter but did not pass an order with regard to the upcoming municipal elections scheduled to be held on 23 April.
The public interest litigation (PIL), was brought by Anil Kumar and Pratap Chandra, two undergraduate students who sought directions to the Election Commission of India and the Delhi state election commission for fixation of coloured photographs of candidates on ballot papers and EVMs.
The PIL contended that the Election Commission had issued a direction in March 2015 that for all elections held thereafter, in addition to the election symbols of the party candidates, their photographs shall also be fixed on the ballot papers and on the EVMs.
However, only black and white photographs were fixed on ballot papers in subsequent elections.
It was claimed by the Election Commission of India and Delhi state election commission that it was not mandatory to print coloured photos on the ballot papers and EVMs as per the norms.
The matter will be heard next on 8 May.
PTI contributed to this story.
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