 "SC rejects pleas seeking 100% verification of EVM votes with VVPAT slips, says 'no going back to paper ballot'")
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the pleas seeking 100 per cent cross-verification of votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) during elections.
The apex court also rejected the prayer for going back to paper ballot instead of EVMs.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, pronouncing the order, said they have elaborately discussed the protocols and technical aspects before rejecting all the pleas.
“We have rejected the prayer for paper ballot voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification and physical deposit of VVPAT slips,” the court said.
EVM-VVPAT verification case: What SC said?
The court said: “While balanced perspective is important but blindly doubting a system can breed skepticism and thus, meaningful criticism is needed.”
“Be it judiciary, legislature etc. democracy is all about maintaining harmony and trust among all the pillars. By nurturing a culture of trust and collaboration, we can strengthen the voice of our democracy,” the top court said.
SC passes two directions for ECI
The court, however, passed two directions to be followed by the Election Commission of India (ECI). They are:
1 - The bench asked for the completion of symbol loading process in VVPATs undertaken on or after May 1, 2024, the Symbol Loading Units (SLU) shall be sealed and secured in container. The sealed container would be kept in strong room along with EVMs for at least 45 days the post results.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts2 - The burnt memory semicontroller in 5 per cent EVMs, i.e., the ballot unit, control unit and VVPAT, per assembly segment of the parliament constituency, shall be checked and verified by a team of engineers from the EVM manufacturers.
The Supreme Court verdict came when the second of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls 2024 is underway. The election process began on April 19 and will continue till June 4 with the announcement of results. The last phase of polling is on June 1.
On Wednesday, the apex court had said it cannot “control the elections” or issue directions simply because doubts have been raised about the efficacy of EVMs, as it reserved its judgement on the clutch of petitions, which also claimed the polling devices can be tinkered with to manipulate the results.
The court also said it cannot change the thought process of those doubting the advantages of polling machines and advocating going back to ballot papers.
During the hearing, the bench extensively interacted with an official from the ECI to understand the workings of the EVMs and VVPATs and their security features.
The ECI asserted that the EVMs cannot be tampered with under any circumstance and that the complete counting of the VVPAT slips was not practically feasible.
What were EVM-VVPAT petitions SC was hearing?
The SC verdict came in three petitions seeking directions to tally VVPAT slips with votes cast through EVMs during polls.
One of the petitioners prayed that each and every EVM vote be tallied against VVPAT slips.
Another plea filed by NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)’ that sought reversal of the poll panel’s 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque glass through which a voter can see the slip only when the light is on for seven seconds.
The petitioners have also sought the court’s direction to revert to the old system of ballot papers.
Also Read: Can go back to paper ballots or handover VVPAT slip to voters: What SC was told in hearing
What’s the current practice?
Currently, the ECI randomly verifies the VVPAT slips of EVMs from five polling booths per assembly segment in a Parliamentary constituency.
The process is in terms of a direction passed by the Supreme Court in 2019 which directed the ECI to increase the verification from one polling booth to five polling booths per assembly segment.
With inputs from agencies
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