India Supreme Court orders preservation of election video recordings amid poll station challenge News
Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
India Supreme Court orders preservation of election video recordings amid poll station challenge

The Supreme Court of India on Friday ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to preserve video recordings of the voting process as a case challenging the increase in the number of voters per polling station is pending before the court. The plea argues the increase could lead to the exclusion of voters due to the overburdening of poll stations.

The court gave the ECI three weeks to file a reply explaining the increase in the number of voters per polling station in accordance with its order from December 2024. Furthermore, it added, “we deem it appropriate to direct the respondent No. 1 [the ECI] to maintain and preserve the CCTV[Closed Circuit Television]/video-film recordings, as they were doing earlier.”

The court had earlier asked the ECI about a scenario when the increased number of voters per polling station could lead to the exclusion of voters as the polling stations might not be equipped to handle the increased number of voters. The ECI had argued that the 1,500-elector limit has been in place since 2019 without complaints. It added that crowding issues arise primarily because many voters arrive late in the day, while polling stations remain less crowded in the morning.

The court had emphasized the need to ensure that every voter gets to participate in elections without obstacles.

The plea challenges an ECI notification increasing the number of voters allowed per polling station. The polling stations’ upper limit was increased from 1200 to 1500. Also, new polling stations are created only after redistributing electors equitably among nearby stations.

According to Section 25 of India’s Representation of the People Act, 1951, the district election officer, with prior approval from the ECI, must ensure an adequate number of polling stations for each constituency under their jurisdiction.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court decided Dartmouth College case

On February 2, 1819, the US Supreme Court decided Dartmouth College v. Woodward, ruling that the charter of a college was a contract that a state could not alter arbitrarily.

New Amsterdam incorporated

On February 2, 1653, the City of New Amsterdam was incorporated by the Dutch Republic. After the British conquest, the city was renamed New York after the Duke of York.

Breviary of Alaric put into effect by Visigoth king

King Alaric II of the Visigoths put the Breviary of Alaric, a collection of Roman laws, into effect on February 2, 506. The breviary contains constitutions and laws of the newly fallen Roman Empire, including the Theodosian code, and parts of the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes. The Breviary of Alaric predated the Byzantine Empire's Code of Justinian by 23 years.  Read an entry on the Breviary of Alaric from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.