SC REJECTS PLEAS SEEKING 100 PER CENT VERIFICATION OF EVM VOTES WITH VVPAT SLIPS
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed all petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) votes with their Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, reports Bar and Bench.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta rejected the plea for going back to ballot papers instead of EVMs in the elections. The court was hearing three petitions to tally VVPAT slips with votes cast through EVMs.
“We have rejected the prayer for paper ballot voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification and physical deposit of VVPAT slips,” the Court said pronouncing its order.
The top court passed the following directions to the Election Commission of India to make the EVMs foolproof.
However, the Court passed the following directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and other authorities to make EVMs foolproof:
The court issued specific instructions to ensure the security of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) by directing the Election Commission of India (ECI) and other relevant authorities to:
-Seal the symbol loading units after completing the symbol loading process, and store the sealed containers in strong rooms for 45 days.
-Allow all candidates the choice to be present during verification procedures. The district election officer must provide certification of the authenticity of the burnt memory.
-Ensure that a team of engineers checks the burnt memory in the microcontroller unit.
On April 18, the Supreme Court reserved its judgment in the matter.
Notably, ahead of the 2019 general elections, around 21 Opposition political parties moved the top court seeking VVPAT verification of at least 50 per cent of all EVMs. Earlier, the ECI used to tally only one random EVM per assembly segment with VVPAT. The number was raised to five in April 2019 by the Supreme Court.
2024-04-26T14:26:46Z dg43tfdfdgfd
