HC asks EC to make sure polled postal ballots are kept safe

Directive based on a petition by some Congress candidates

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to take adequate steps to ensure that the polled postal ballots are stored with adequate safety and security and without any chance for tampering or corrupting the votes. The Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chali issued the directive while disposing of a petition filed by K. Muralidharan, Anad Jayan, and Deepak Joy, Congress candidates from Nemom, Vamanapuram and Vypin constituencies respectively, seeking a directive to the Election Commission to keep all the polled postal ballots in safe custody as is being done in the case of VVPAT machines.