Supreme Court to Issue Directives on EVM-VVPAT Verification Amidst Ongoing Election

On Wednesday, April 24, the Supreme Court is expected to issue directives regarding a series of petitions advocating for comprehensive cross-verification of votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). VVPAT serves as an independent vote verification system, allowing voters to confirm if their votes were accurately recorded.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta is scheduled to deliver the directives on the petitions, the ruling for which was reserved by the apex court on April 18.

The ongoing Lok Sabha elections of 2024, spanning seven phases, commenced on April 19, with the second phase scheduled for April 26.

Key points from the pleas presented before the Supreme Court include requests for a reversal of the Election Commission’s 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque one, which allows voters to view the slip only when illuminated for seven seconds. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO and one of the petitioners has advocated for aligning the count in EVMs with votes verifiably “recorded as cast.” Additionally, they have emphasized the importance of ensuring that voters can verify through the VVPAT slip that their vote, as indicated on the paper slip, has been “counted as recorded.”

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During the extensive two-day hearing, the Supreme Court cautioned petitioners against questioning the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), urging them to appreciate the Election Commission’s efforts. The bench engaged in an hour-long interaction with senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas to grasp the functioning of EVMs. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO, was reminded by the court that voter satisfaction and trust are fundamental to the electoral process.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Election Commission of India (ECI), asserted that EVMs are standalone machines immune to tampering, though acknowledging the possibility of human error.

On April 16, the Supreme Court rebuked criticism of EVMs and advocated for a return to ballot papers, emphasizing the complexity of the electoral process in India and cautioning against undermining the system.