Supreme Court Rejects Plea for Full VVPAT-EVM Tally; Upholds EVM Usage
New Delhi, Apr 26: The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea requesting tallying all Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes in elections, firmly rejecting any return to paper ballots.
The Bar and Bench reported that justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, presiding over the bench, also declined the prayer to revert to paper ballots from EVMs.
In a pronounced order, the Court stated, "We have rejected the prayer for paper ballot voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification and physical deposit of VVPAT slips." Emphasizing the importance of fostering trust and collaboration to bolster democracy, the Court highlighted the necessity of meaningful criticism over blind scepticism towards systems governing democracy, be it the judiciary or legislature.
Despite dismissing the plea, the Court issued directives to enhance the security of EVMs, aimed at ensuring their foolproof functioning:
- Symbol loading units are to be sealed after the completion of the loading process and stored in strong rooms for 45 days.
- All candidates are permitted to be present during verification, with district election officers certifying the authenticity of burnt memory.
- A team of engineers is to verify the burnt memory in the microcontroller unit.
This verdict follows the consideration of three petitions advocating for VVPAT slips to be tallied with EVM votes. One petitioner sought the tallying of each EVM vote against VVPAT slips, while another, filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), insisted on tallying to ensure voters' confidence in the accuracy of their ballots.
The Supreme Court had reserved its judgment on April 18, with queries during the hearings cantered around whether it could issue directives regarding EVMs based solely on suspicions of hacking and manipulation.
