Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court opened hearings on September 18 regarding a PIL targeting the reliability of Electronic Voting Machines used in the 2026 Assam Assembly election. Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar leads the bench. They pushed the next session on the petition's admissibility to November 4.
Assam Jatiya Parishad leader Ziaur Rahman teamed up with Congress figures Guptamani Sharma and Ripun Bora to file the challenge. The group claims the machines lack necessary transparency. They want details on the source code and the specific semiconductor microchips inside the units. Rahman noted, "The court had indicated that the matter was serious and sensitive and involved issues connected with EVM-related cases pending before or already decided by the Supreme Court and other high courts."
The petitioners pointed to a potential conflict involving a Japanese semiconductor firm. They allege company officials met Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a January 2025 Japan visit. This supposedly links to Assam's own semiconductor investment plans. The petitioners argue the Election Commission of India hides essential programming data from the public eye. They also flagged odd polling patterns observed across multiple constituencies on election day.
Lawyers for the petitioners and the Election Commission presented initial arguments on Friday. The Assam government and the Japanese company remain parties to the case. The court has not verified these claims yet. It is purely testing if the petition holds legal water.
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