The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking a return to ballot paper voting in India, questioning the petitioner's motivations and the rationale behind the plea. The petition also called for stricter penalties for candidates found guilty of distributing money or other inducements during elections. 

This is the second case filed before the apex court by KA Paul, an organization's president claiming to have rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows. The bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale, expressed amusement at the nature of the plea filed by the petitioner.

"You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?" the bench asked, adding, "Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different."

Paul contended that the EVMs are vulnerable to tampering and referred to a remark allegedly made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and allegations made by Andhra Pradesh leaders Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," the bench observed, pointing out the recurrent nature of such claims after electoral defeats.

"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," the court remarked, putting light upon the trend of questioning EVM reliability based on the outcome of the elections.

The petitioner had also sought a directive to the Election Commission to ban candidates from contesting for at least five years if they are convicted of distributing money, liquor, or other incentives to voters. The bench dismissed the plea, telling Paul to stay out of such political controversies and concentrate on his laudable humanitarian work.