Supreme Court Reserves Verdict On Batch Of Pleas Seeking Cross-Verification Of Votes Cast Using EVMs With VVPAT

Supreme Court reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

PTI reported that a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta reserved its verdict after hearing the response of Election Commission on the pleas.

The petitioners have also 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. Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, explained the process of how an EVM functions. Advocate Prashant Bhushan and senior advocate Gopal Sankararanarayanan appeared for the petitioners. Other lawyers represented the intervenors.

On April 16, the top court had deprecated criticism of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and calls for reverting to ballot papers, saying the electoral process in India is a “humongous task” and attempts should not be made to “bring down the system”.

Meanwhile, Election Commission of India informed the Supreme Court that allegations of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) showing one extra vote during a mock poll in Kerala’s Kasaragod were false.

“These news reports are false. We have verified the allegation from the district collector and it appears that they are false. We will submit a detailed report to the court,” senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas told a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. Vyas was present in the courtroom to apprise the bench about the functioning of EVMs.