Supreme Court Directs Recount Of Votes From All EVMs Of Panipat Sarpanch Election, Orders Production Of EVMs Before Registrar
|An SLP was filed against the decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court, wherein the order of Election Tribunal, Panipat directing the recount of votes was set aside by the High Court.
The Supreme Court, while hearing an SLP, directed to recount the votes from all EVMs used in election of Sarpanch in Panipat, Haryana.
An SLP was filed against the decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court, wherein the order of Election Tribunal, Panipat directing the recount of votes was set aside by the High Court.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Datta, and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh directed the Deputy Commissioner and the District Election Officer, Panipat, Haryana to produce all the EVMs before the Registrar of the Supreme Court, as nominated by the Secretary General, on August 6, 2025.
Senior Advocate Liz Mathew appeared for the petitioner, while Senior Advocate Gagan Gupta and Advocate Karan Kapoor appeared for the respondents.
Case Brief
The Petitioner and the Respondent contested election of Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat at Panipat. Firstly, the Respondent was also declared elected, however, when the votes were recounted again on the same day, the Petitioner was declared as Sarpanch.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court found that the Respondent received the highest number of votes, being 1117 votes out of 3767 votes polled, while the Petitioner received 804 votes. The High Court observed, “Recount can be resorted to only in rare cases where a strong case is made out, after giving due reasons upon application of mind.”
Court’s Observation
Given the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Bench directed the Deputy Commissioner and the District Election Officer, Panipat, Haryana to produce all the EVMs before the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
“The nominated Registrar shall recount the votes, not only of the disputed booth but of all the booths”, the Court observed.
The Supreme Court also directed that the process of recounting of votes shall be video-graphed and the Petitioner as well as the Respondent or their authorized agents should remain present at the time of recounting.
Accordingly, the matter was listed on August 11, 2025.
Cause Title: Mohit Kumar V. Kuldeep Singh & Ors. ( SLP(C) No. 018410/2025)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate Liz Mathew, AOR Praveen, Advocates Mahendra Kumar, Malika Agarwal, Rajnish Mann, Ankur Kumar, Deepak Tushir, Rohit Kumar, Sandeep Kumar Sharma, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Jitender Kumar, Jitendra Kr. SrivastavaKumar,
Respondents: Senior Advocate Gagan Gupta, AOR Shrey Kapoor, Advocates Karan Kapoor, Manik Kapoor, Srishti Singla