Hyderabad High Court admits petition on NOTA

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday admitted a petition seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commission to install EVMs along with printers to take receipts for each vote polled and the option of NOTA.

Justice Sanjay Kumar, while admitting the petition by Congress leaders D. Sravan Kumar, Puvvada Ajay Kumar and Naini Rajender Reddy, directed the poll panels to spell out their stand on the plea through counter-affidavits.

The petitioners told the court that though the Supreme Court had directed them to introduce Viable Voter Variable Paper Audit Trail facility, the authorities failed to install the facility in the EVMs so far.

They also said that the officials failed in keeping the option of NOTA in the EVMs in the GHMC polls.

Asking why the authorities were unable to install the facilities, the judge ruled out the possibility of installing EVMs with printers as the poll notification has already been issued. The case was posted to March 15.