Notice issued to the State of J&K from the Court of Principal District Judge, Jammu, wher the Advocate Sareen has filed his election petition

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JAMMU NOVEMBER 14: The  Advocate Sh Sanjeev Kumar Sareen of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court being well-versed with the EVM (Electronic voting machine) before the election to Urban Local Bodies were conducted, by an RTI sought information from Chief Electoral Officer referring the type of EVM that would be used in ULB 2018 elections as the press note issued in that respect talked about the EVMs only without their description , the information provided to the above named advocate was shocking as the CEO had, in reply to RTI, discussed about M1 EVMs manufactured in the year 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 would be used in the forthcoming elections and M2 EVMs manufacturing year BEL Port 2006 make were used in the last assembly election.
Since the M1 EVMs, as has been observed by the Hon’ble Apex Court are not tamper proof and can easily be hacked, and on the assurance imparted by the Election Commission of India, these M1 EVMs have been discontinued and discarded and the same have been, as observed, destroyed in the factory premises of the manufacturers, as such by a representation to the CEO J&K, the above named advocate requested for not to use the said M1 EVMs rather the election may be conducted either by ballot paper or by the use of M3 EVMs, those are connected with printers with drop box attached to voting machine for printing a paper trail, which representation was made on 20-09-2018.
Despite the representation, the CEO J&K when was found adamant in conducting the ULB elections 2018 with M1 EVMs, a public interest litigation came to be filed by the Advocate before the Hon’ble J&K High Court on 28-09-2018 in which the CEO J&K was put on notice, without any fear in his mind, he came to conduct the election on 08-10-2018. On 23-10-2018, the Hon’ble Div Bench of the Hon’ble High Court at first came to dismiss the PIL observing “the usage of the electronic Voting machines in the municipal elections J&K in the petition put forth by the petitioner, since the election was already over, the matter appeared to be rendered infructuous.”
Sh Sanjeev Kr Sareen Advocate now has come to challenge the election of all the 75 elected candidates besides the State of J&K, Election Commission of India, CEO J&K, District Election Officer, Jammu and Jammu Municipal Corporation before the Authorised officer on the ground that the CEO J&K and its functionaries have violated the rules and regulations as enshrined in the J&K Municipal Corporation Act 2018 and the rules affirmed thereto and instead of complying with SRO 336 read with Rule 56-A has conducted elections with the discontinued and discarded M1 EVMs whose use is also against the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court —the assurance of free and fair election by ECI. The election petition so filed, in which the notices have been issued to all 80 respondents contain precisely the said issue.
Although the J&K Municipal Corporation Act 2018 the rules appeared thereto specifically speak of the Electronic Voting Machine attached with printer withdrop box for printing a paper trail  of the vote yet the CEO J&K and its functionaries have used discarded and discontinued EVMs thereby have shaken the confidence of the General Public in the famous democratic setup of the country as these M1 EVMs are not tamper proof and can easily be hacked.
Besides the aforesaid submissions made in the petition, Advocate Sanjeev Kumar Sareen has further alleged the corrupt practices that have been committed in reaching their illegal goals particularly when the State govt, during the Model Code of Conduct in place has transferred the Tehsildars,  gave bonus to SPOs and above all full salary of one complete month has been given to all the employees of the state who were engaged in the election process, which salary is above the salary which every employee generally receives.
Having said so, the petitioner has prayed for the annulment ofwhole of the election process of ULB 2018 thereby to quash the election of all the 75 candidates.
The above petition has been filed for Advocate Sanjeev Sareen by a battery of lawyers, prominent among them are Sh V.R Wazir Sr. Advocate, Sh R.K Kotwal Advocate,  Sh Amrit Sarin, Sh Pawan Manni, Sh Abhishek Wazir Advocate and ShAswani Kumar Advocate, Sh Neeraj Magotra Advocate, Sh Suresh Kumar Advocate, Sh Amit Raina Advocate, Sh Raghav Sharma Advocate, Miss Amarpreet Kour Advocate, Miss Sudhiti Suri Advocate,  Miss Suncha Rajput Advocate, Sh Sandeep Rathore Advocate, Sh Dinkesh Rajdhan Advocate, Sh Vinayak Advocate and many other were present before the Prinicipal judge for supporting the Public cause.