V. Rao and engineers A. Kankipati and Y. Vasaya contended in their lawsuit that 'several experts and election watch groups and individuals, who have been monitoring the election process have found that EVMs could be manipulated and tampered with.'

'They have analysed the results in several constituencies, which indicates that there is something drastically wrong with the EVMs,' the petitioners claimed.

The lawsuit also raised the issue of secrecy of the votes, pointing out that EVMs are not able to even protect the secrecy of voters and the votes cast by them.

Arguing for formation of an expert panel, Parekh contended that two expert panels appointed by the Election Commission in 1990 and 2005 had indicated that there were several lacunae in the functioning of EVMs and they needed to be rectified.

Later, speaking to IANS, Election Commission's legal consultant S.K. Mendiratta sought to refute the doubts being raised about the EVMs.

'We have been writing to one and all, who have been raising doubts about the EVMs, to approach the Election Commission and demonstrate to us how the EVM could be tampered with,' said Mendiratta, who was former principal secretary of the poll panel.

'No one has turned up till now to ask for any demonstration,' he said, adding that at least three high courts and the apex court have approved of the EVMs' functional authenticity.