Petitions To Match EVM Voters With VVPAT Slip Demanding Voting Through Ballot Paper Rejected In Supreme Court

Hearing was held today on petitions demanding 100 percent verification of EVM voters through VVPAT slips. The Supreme Court rejected all the petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes through Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. While hearing, Justice Sanjeev Khanna said that the opinion of both the judges is same. After which the court rejected the petition demanding 100 percent verification of EVM voters through VVPAT slips.

You cannot question any system blindly: SC

While giving the decision, the court said that the symbol unit has been asked to be stored for 45 days. The court said that if any candidate is not satisfied as soon as the result is declared, he can make a demand within 7 days. Micro controller will be tested. Has there been a mistake or not? The candidate will bear the expenses of the investigation. If any irregularities are found in the investigation then the money will be refunded. If found correct, the money will not be refunded. The Supreme Court told the petitioners that you cannot blindly question any system.

Apprehensions expressed regarding hacking of EVMs

During the hearing of the case, when apprehensions regarding hacking of EVMs were expressed by the petitioners, the court said that no order can be issued on the basis of suspicion. The court said that we have asked questions to the Election Commission regarding your apprehensions and the Election Commission has given its answer. There is no reason to disbelieve the technical arguments he has given. No incident of hacking has been reported so far. The Election Commission itself is a constitutional institution. We cannot control it.

Many suggestions given by the petitioners

Many suggestions were given by the petitioners during the hearing. All VVPAT slips should be counted 100 percent. The votes cast through EVM should match with all the VVPAT slips, the glass of the VVPAT should be made transparent and the light of the VVPAT should always be on so that the voter can see the entire process from the cutting of the VVPAT slip till it falls in the box. Currently, voters can see this only for 7 seconds. Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, had said that EVMs are machines which cannot be tampered with, but the possibility of human error cannot be ruled out.

INDI alliance also made this demand

The opposition INDI Alliance has also demanded 100 per cent counting of VVPATs to increase public confidence in electronic voting machines. VVPAT was first introduced in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and is basically a ballot-less vote verification system attached to the EVM. Let us inform that amid the opposition’s apprehensions regarding voting in the EVM machine, the petitions have sought direction to verify each vote cast on the EVM with the paper slips generated by the VVPAT system. Currently, this cross verification is done for 5 selected EVMs in every assembly constituency.

It is noteworthy that in their last hearing in the Supreme Court, the petitioners had raised the issue of public trust and made comparisons with European countries. Those ballots have gone back into the voting system. The court had rejected such comparisons saying that the challenges here are different. The Election Commission had added that the existing system is infallible. In fact, one of the petitioners, the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, has sought to reverse the replacement of transparent glass with opaque glass on VVPAT machines. Through this, voters can see the slip only for a few seconds when the light is on.

Also Read: Supreme Court Verdict On VVPAT Verification Expected Amidst Second Phase Of Lok Sabha Elections