Supreme Court questions EVM efficiency for polling stations over 1,500 voters

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to explain how Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), designed to accommodate 1,500 votes, can handle polling stations with more than 1,500 registered voters.
A bench led by Chief Justice (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna raised concerns about voting efficiency, noting that if an EVM processes only 45 votes per hour, it may not serve all voters during polling hours in high-turnout scenarios.
“File a short affidavit explaining the position. We are concerned that no voter should face inconvenience,” the court said during the hearing.
Advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Election Commission, defended the current system, by saying, “This 1,500-voter limit has been in place since 2019, and there have been no complaints. If everyone arrives late in the day, it creates congestion, but the morning hours are less crowded.”
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Indu Prakash Singh, challenging the ECI’s decision to raise the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,200 to 1,500. The petitioner argued that the increase could overwhelm EVMs and could cause inconvenience to voters. Singh in his petition urged the court to reinstate the 1,200 voter limit followed from 1957 to 2016.
The plea also called for increasing the number of polling stations to comply with Section 25 of the Representation of People Act, which mandates adequate polling arrangements.
The Court directed the Election Commission to submit a detailed affidavit explaining its stance within three weeks and scheduled the matter for further hearing in the week starting January 27, 2025.