The Election Commission of India has informed the Delhi High Court that CCTV footage from seven District Election Officers (DEOs) in the national capital related to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has been destroyed. The statement comes amid a legal plea seeking access to video and CCTV records from polling stations across the country.
In June this year, the Election Commission had directed state election officers to destroy all CCTV, webcasting, and video footage of the election process after 45 days, unless the decision was challenged in court within that period. The Commission had cited the need to prevent what it called “malicious narratives” using its electronic data.
The statement was taken on record by Justice Mini Pushkarna during hearings of an application filed by advocate Mehmood Pracha. Pracha had sought directions from the poll body to preserve and share CCTV footage from polling stations during the 2024 elections. He had also requested that the footage not be destroyed while the matter remained pending in court. 
The court noted that “as of today, the data as sought by the petitioner, i.e., the video/CCTV footage pertaining to the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024, is no longer in the custody of the DEOs in Delhi and already stands destroyed.” Pracha argued in court that the Commission’s instructions were issued specifically to defeat his petition and destroy crucial evidence.
The Election Commission, however, stated that the petitioner had not legally challenged the new instructions for destroying the data. In response, the court said that “no orders can be passed by this Court in the present application, for the time being. Accordingly, the present application is disposed of.”
Earlier, in August, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had cited voter privacy concerns for not sharing CCTV footage publicly. He had questioned whether CCTV footage of “mothers, daughters, daughters-in-law” should be made public, highlighting the sensitivity around personal privacy during elections.
