The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea regarding the tallying of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. The petition raises concerns about the accuracy and integrity of the electoral process, advocating for a mechanism to cross-verify EVM results with VVPAT records.
NEW DELHI: Today (18th April): The Supreme Court is currently reviewing a petition filed by lawyer and activist Arun Kumar Agrawal, requesting that every vote cast through an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) be tallied with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips during elections.
READ ALSO: SC Notice to ECI: Plea for Full EVM votes with VVPAT Vote Tally
Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta emphasized the necessity of stringent punishment to deter any potential manipulation. The Court’s observation highlighted the concern that without adequate penalties, the possibility of EVM manipulation remains.
The petitioner seeks to expand the existing practice of verifying VVPATs for only five randomly selected EVMs in each assembly segment. Additionally, Agrawal has urged the court to allow voters to physically deposit VVPAT slips in a ballot box, ensuring their ballots are “counted as recorded.”
The Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide its response to the plea, which was tagged with other EVM and VVPAT-related matters.
On April 1, the Supreme Court of India requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond to a plea aiming for a comprehensive count of Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips during elections.
Currently, VVPAT verification only covers votes recorded in 5 randomly chosen Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) per assembly segment.
The petitioner advocates for matching every EVM vote with its corresponding VVPAT slip and allowing voters to physically deposit VVPAT slips in a ballot box to ensure accurate ballot counting.
The plea, filed by lawyer and activist Arun Kumar Agrawal, challenges the Election Commission’s guideline of conducting sequential VVPAT verification, which leads to unnecessary delays.
READ ALSO: CIC Orders ECI to Disclose Information on EVMs and VVPATs
The argument made in the plea suggests that if simultaneous verification is carried out and more officers are deployed for counting in every assembly constituency, it would allow for thorough VVPAT verification to be completed within 5-6 hours.
The plea stated,
“Furthermore, the petitioner aims to annul and revoke Guideline No. 14.7(h) of the Manual on Electronic Voting Machine and VVPAT dated August, 2023, as formulated and issued by the Election Commission of India, specifically concerning its provision for solely sequential verification of VVPAT slips, which leads to unwarranted delays in the tallying of all VVPAT slips.”
READ PREVIOUS REPORTS ON VVPAT
