Can't Make Lame Excuses: Top Court Pulls Up Poll Body Over Missing Footage

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Election Commission of India over its inability to trace the video recording of the counting in Karnataka's Sringeri Assembly constituency in 2023, stressing that it would not accept "lame excuses". The court questioned how the poll body could say it had lost records of an election it had conducted. The bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva expressed strong displeasure after the counsel for the Election Commission informed the court that the footage of the original counting could not be traced. The court directed the Commission to produce whatever records it has at the next hearing, warning that it could draw an adverse inference if the documents were not produced."How can the Election Commission of India say that it has lost the records? Your whole purpose is to hold an election, and you need to have a document.