Justice Dutta wrote a separate, 18 page-judgement, in which he stated that “certain vested groups” are endeavouring to undermine the nation’s accomplishments, “earned through hard work and dedication”.

The Supreme Court on April 26 rejected pleas seeking cross-verification of the votes cast in electronic voting machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta had on April 24 reserved the plea for judgment for the second time after they relisted it for getting some clarification from the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Justice Dipankar Datta in his concurring 18-page opinion stated that “certain vested groups” are endeavouring to undermine the nation’s accomplishments, “earned through hard work and dedication”.

Reacting to the Justice Dutta's views, lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan tweeted: "Shockingly unjustified remarks by Justice Dipankar Dutta on the bonafides of Association of Democratic Reforms for a petition seeking a more foolproof system of counting votes rather than relying only on EVMs which have a software capable of being manipulated."

Bhushan further added, "judges should realise that when they make ad hominem & unjustified remarks on organisations which have a stellar record of tireless public interest work, that reflects poorly on the judges themselves than on the organisations."