Extraordinary situations warrant extraordinary steps. That is precisely what a three-member Bench of the Supreme Court did the other day when it ordered the District Magistrate of Panipat, Haryana, to produce all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the election of a sarpanch in Buana Lakhu village. The election, held in November 2022 as part of the statewide three-phase civic polls, saw Kuldeep Singh declared the winner over Mohit Kumar by a margin of 313 votes. In due course, Singh duly assumed office. However, when Kumar challenged the result, the Election Tribunal ordered a recount—which showed Singh had actually polled fewer votes than Kumar. Ordinarily, the matter should have ended there. But Singh........

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