Supreme Court summons EVMs, holds recounting of votes to alter Sarpanch election results

In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court recently ordered the production of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and related records from a Sarpanch election in Haryana, conducting a full recount before revising the poll outcome in Mohit Kumar v. Kuldeep Singh. The matter stemmed from the November 2, 2022 election for Sarpanch of Buana Lakhu village in Panipat district, in which Kuldeep Singh was declared the winner. His rival, Mohit Kumar, contested the result before the Panipat Election Tribunal, which directed a recount of votes from one polling booth. The Deputy Commissioner-cum-Election Officer was to carry this out on May 7, 2025. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court overturned this order, prompting Kumar to appeal to the apex court. On July 31, a Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and N Kotiswar Singh expanded the scope of the recount to all polling booths. They instructed the Panipat Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer to present all EVMs to a Registrar appointed by the Supreme Court for a videographed recount, in the presence of both parties or their authorised agents. The recount took place on August 6, covering booths 65 to 70. The revised tally showed Kumar with 1,051 votes, surpassing Singh’s 1,000. The Registrar submitted a signed report to the court, confirming the process had been properly documented. On August 11, the Bench accepted the report’s findings, noting no cause for doubt, and overturned the High Court’s ruling.

The court declared Mohit Kumar the duly elected Sarpanch and directed the Deputy Commissioner to issue the necessary notification within two days, allowing him to assume office immediately. While it left room for either party to raise further issues before the Election Tribunal, it ruled that the Tribunal must treat the Registrar’s recount report as final regarding vote counts. It further ordered the resealed EVMs and the report to be sent to the Tribunal for the official record. Senior Advocate Liz Mathew, assisted by multiple counsels, represented Kumar, while Senior Advocate Gagan Gupta appeared for Singh with his legal team.