Madhya Pradesh High Court: A Division Bench of Sheel Nagu and G.S. Ahluwalia, JJ. entertained a writ by the way of PIL where the litigant sought, CBI investigation into the matter related to the theft of Electronic Voting Machines which were to be used in Lok Sabha elections of 2019.
The petitioner U.K. Bohare contended the matter in person, where he accused the officers of the Election Commission of theft and criminal breach of trust of EVMs. The petitioner sought to punish such officers involved and to seek the cost of lost EVMs from the Central Government. According to the petitioner the EVMs which were stolen were used in Gwalior and Chambal illegally and hence, CBI investigation was vehemently pleaded.
The Court, observed that it was evident that the public cause sought to be raised herein was in respect of an alleged incident of missing 19 Lakhs EVM (Electronic Voter Machine) during the parliamentary election of 2019. The Court further stated that though it was a serious matter, which had to be looked into, information gathered by petitioner was based on unconfirmed, uncorroborated and unreliable newspaper reports. Petitioner preferred representation to the Election Commission of India related to his aforesaid grievance. The court held, “court is of the considered view that pleadings herein lack bare essential material to impel this court to initiate the process of adjudication of the alleged public cause and therefore, this court declines interference.” Hence, the petition was dismissed giving liberty to the petitioner to represent his case before the Election Commission of India.[Umesh Kumar Bohare v. Union of India, 2019 SCC OnLine MP 928, decided on 27-05-2019]
