On Sunday (17th August), the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a press conference at the National Media Centre in New Delhi.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar pointed out that the Supreme Court had turned down a petition for providing a machine-readable voter list in 2019.
While referring to the apex court’s verdict, he stated that the Supreme Court was concerned about potential violation of privacy of the electorates if machine-readable voter list is provided.
Gyanesh Kumar emphasise that the Election Commission is bound by the decision of the apex court, not from today but since last 6 years on the issue of providing machine-readable voter list.
He also pointed out the difference between a searchable and machine-readable voter list.
The development comes at a time when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is casting aspersions on the integrity of the nodal election body and suggesting that it is deliberately withholding machine-readable voter list to somehow benefit the BJP.
