The Election Commission has urged the Supreme Court to grant an urgent hearing on its plea alleging EVMs and VVPAT machines used in polls of six states are currently stuck and cannot be used for future elections.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the poll panel, submitted a large number of EVMs and VVPAT machines are still being preserved and need to be released. Submitting that they are preserved due to an order extending the limitation period for filing pleas, which includes election petitions, the poll body sought that a timeline be fixed for filing election petitions in connection with polls held in Assam, Kerala, Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.