The Supreme Court bench said that the petitioner had not placed any actionable material on record to indicate that the Election Commission was in breach of its constitutional mandate of holding elections. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea that sought directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct an independent audit of the source code of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and to place the report in the public domain. A bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said that “presently, the petitioner has placed no actionable material on the record of the court to indicate that the EC is actually in breach of its constitutional mandate” of holding elections. The CJI also observed orally that placing such sensitive details in the public domain would be a security risk. “It shouldn’t be in the public domain, because the moment you place it in the public domain, there is a danger that that will itself be subject to misuse,” he said. The petitioner said he had earlier moved a PIL before the general elections of 2019 and the Supreme Court by order dated April 8, 2019, held that in view of the announcement of the general elections, it was not possible to go into the issues raised in it. Thereafter, he said he instituted another PIL in which the Supreme Court by order dated February 24, 2020, permitted him to make representation to the ECI. He contended that though he followed up on the representation, he is still in the dark about what steps have been taken. Turning down the plea, the bench also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said that “the Election Commission of India is entrusted constitutionally with superintendence and control over the conduct of elections. Presently, the petitioner has placed no actionable material on the record of the court to indicate that the Election Commission is actually in breach of its constitutional mandate”. The order added, “Ultimately, the manner in which the source code should be audited and whether the audit should be placed in the public domain bears on sensitive issues pertaining to the integrity of the elections which are conducted under the superintendence of the Election Commission. On such a policy issue, we are not inclined to issue a direction of this court which has been sought by the petitioner. There is no material before this court at this stage to indicate the EC is not taking suitable steps to fulfil its mandate.” At the outset, the counsel appearing for the petitioner said the EC has not followed any particular standard and has not disclosed any standards. For any audit to be of meaning, it has to be as per a recognised standard, he said, adding that the source code is the brain of the EVM system. “We are voting on an EVM system whose source code is not audited,” the counsel said. The CJI then asked, “Why should we ask ECI to conduct an audit of EVMs? What is the material before us to doubt it? You must produce material before us casting doubt on the source code of the EVMs…”. The CJI also pointed out that “every time we even put out a new application in SC on our website, we have to go through a security audit. If I tell my registrar that I want to put this out next week, they will say sorry sir, it is not possible, we have to conduct a security audit. Nothing can happen, rest assured, these are standard guidelines that are followed not only by the government but other authorities too…”. The counsel said, “In international practice, they are available in public domain…in India, no formal audit report in public domain”. The CJI then pointed to the possibility of hacking if such data is placed in the public domain. “When we conduct security audit, of say, for instance, of e-filing software or we have now allowed electronic passes, if I start putting out the source code in public, you know who will be able to hack it,” the CJI said before dismissing the plea. The order also said that the counsel argued that if the source code has been audited, the hash function signature would be available and should be placed in the public domain.