Published Oct 14, 2026 | 5:07 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 14, 2026 | 5:59 PM
Supreme Court
Synopsis: The Supreme Court expressed surprise after the ECI submitted that it could not trace the 2023 vote-counting video. The court directed the ECI to produce whatever it has during the next hearing. The court also warned that failing to produce the document would warrant an adverse inference.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 14 October, issued a stern warning to the poll panel, asking it to produce the 2023 Karnataka vote-counting video at the next day’s hearing, after the Election Commission said it could not trace the visual recording.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva expressed surprise after the ECI said it could not trace the video recording of the 2023 counting.
The court was hearing an election dispute case between Congress candidate TD Rajegowda and BJP’s DN Jeevaraj. The former had won the 2023 assembly election from Sringeri by a slender margin of 201 votes. Rajegowda was recently unseated after a recount declared that Jeevaraj had secured more votes.
However, Rajegowda got relief in May when the court said he could remain an MLA while his petition was pending.
On Wednesday, when the court took up the matter for hearing, the ECI said it could not trace the video of the counting process.
Also Read: Supreme Court grants interim relief to Congress leader TD Rajegowda
“How can the Election Commission of India say that it has lost its record? Your whole purpose is to hold an election, and you need to have a document. Where is the question of you saying, ‘Yeah, we are trying to trace it’? You gave it to the elected candidate. There is no custody of records. Whatever you have, produce it on the next date. Otherwise, we will have to draw an adverse inference against you. We will not accept these kinds of lame excuses,” Bar and Bench quoted the court.
The Bench’s remark came after Senior Advocate Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the ECI, said it could not trace the 2023 video. Earlier, the court said that it would direct the ECI to produce the documents and video recordings.
The Congress MLA has sought to see the observer’s report and video recordings of the original counting and the recounting.
The case has been posted for 15 February 2027 for further hearing.
On 11 May, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to Rajegowda, directing that he remain the MLA of Karnataka’s Sringeri constituency for now, after the vote recount declared BJP candidate Jeevaraj the MLA.
“We cannot let you hijack a democracy like this,” a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran had then remarked.
The court directed restoration of status quo ante (state of affairs as it existed before the vote recount).
The Bench observed that the Returning Officer deducted 248 postal votes cast in favour of Rajegowda from the 562 postal votes earlier counted in his favour and added 2 postal votes to the earlier 689 postal votes polled for the BJP leader.
“On the strength of this exercise, which went beyond the scope of what was ordered, we are informed that certain steps have been taken. As such steps are prima facie without a foundation, we are of the opinion that interference is required by this court”, the Court stated.
Justice Chandran also remarked that there was no question of reverification of already validated postal ballots.
During the 2023 Assembly Elections in Karnataka, sitting Congress MLA Rajegowda (59,171 votes) had won by a thin margin of 201 votes against Jeevaraj (58,970 votes) in Sringeri. However, of the 1,822 postal ballots cast, 279 were initially rejected.
Jeevaraj challenged the legality of the election of Rajegowda in the Karnataka High Court. In April 2026, the court directed the Returning Officer to re-verify the 279 rejected postal ballots polled in the 2023 Sringeri constituency election.
After the recount on 3 May, Rajegowda’s tally fell by 255 votes, and Jeevaraj was declared the winner.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
