Guwahati, Sep 18 The Gauhati High Court on Friday started hearing on the admissibility of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by opposition political leaders questioning the credibility of EVMs in this year’s Assembly election in Assam and the semiconductors used in the machines.
The petitioners, Assam Jatiya Parishad and Congress leaders, have alleged that widespread irregularities involving EVMs contributed to the BJP securing a single-party majority in the polls.
The court of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar fixed November 4 as the next date for the involved parties to place their further arguments on the PIL’s maintainability, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader and one of the petitioners, Ziaur Rahman, said.
He said the PIL has challenged the “credibility and legal acceptability” of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the 2026 Assembly election.
The petitioners --
Rahman and Congress leaders Guptamani Sharma and Ripun Bora -- have raised questions over the semiconductor technology allegedly used in the machines, the “non-disclosure” of microchip source code and the “connection” of a major Japanese semiconductor firm with Assam’s semiconductor initiatives.
“The maintainability of the PIL was taken up in the Chief Justice’s court today. The court observed that the matter was serious and sensitive and involved issues connected with cases concerning EVMs pending or decided before the Supreme Court and other high courts. It indicated that the issues would require detailed consideration and fixed November 4 for the next hearing on maintainability,” the AJP leader said.
The petitioners maintained that the present PIL is different from previous such appeals doubting the reliability of EVMs in general, as the current one specifically questions the microchips or semiconductors used inside the machines and the transparency surrounding their programming.
Rahman claimed that the microchips or semiconductor components used in the EVMs were manufactured by the same Japanese company, the officials of which met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Tokyo during his Japan visit in January 2025.
The petitioners have also raised questions over information concerning the Assam government’s efforts to attract semiconductor investment and cooperation from Japanese companies.
Rahman further said that the PIL has questioned the extent to which information relating to the programming of the EVM chips is available for public scrutiny.
He said that countries that use EVMs have greater details regarding the programming and source code of the relevant technology before elections.
He alleged that the Election Commission of India has not made the source code of the relevant EVM technology publicly available.
Rahman also claimed identical polling patterns across a large number of constituencies during a specific period of time on polling day, maintaining that it was not a likely natural phenomenon.
The petitioners’ advocate and counsel for the Election Commission placed their arguments before the court.
The state government is expected to present its position in the subsequent hearing, while the Japanese firm is also a party to the proceedings.
