EC defends integrity of EVMs in SC, asserts it can’t be manipulated
The Election Commission of India (ECI) defended the integrity of the electronic voting system, asserting that it was not prone to any external interference or manipulations.
A day before the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing in the long-standing Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri mosque title dispute to 8 February.
The SC bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer directed that all the advocates on record will work in harmony and ensure that all documents are filed, if not already filed.
The SC bench also took notice of submission of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing Sunni Waqf Board, that the matter should be heard only in July 2019, after the completion of the next Lok Sabha polls citing political ramifications.
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A total of 13 appeals were filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad High Court in four civil suits in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Hourt, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had said the land be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
A sect of Muslims, under the banner of Shia Central Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh, had earlier approached the court offering a solution that a mosque could be built in a Muslim-dominated area at a “reasonable distance” from the disputed site in Ayodhya.
However, its intervention was opposed by the All India Sunni Waqf Board which had claimed that judicial adjudication between the two sects had already been done in 1946 by declaring the mosque, which was demolished on 6 December, 1992, as one which belongs to the Sunnis.
Recently a group of civil rights activists also moved the apex court seeking intervention in the Ayodhya dispute and urged it to consider the issue saying it is not just a dispute over property but has several other aspects which would have far-reaching effects on the “secular fabric of the country”.
(With agency inputs)
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