New Delhi: The Supreme Court is liekly to deliver rulings on a series of petitions advocating for thorough cross-verification of votes cast via EVMs using the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta are set to announce the directives following the apex court’s reservation of judgment on April 18.
Among the petitioners is the NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)’, which seeks to overturn the Election Commission’s 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque one. Under this setup, voters can only view the slip when the light is activated for seven seconds.
ADR’s plea aims to align the EVM count with verifiably “recorded as cast” votes and ensure that voters can confirm via the VVPAT slip that their vote has been accurately accounted for.
During the previous hearing, senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Election Commission, contended that EVMs are standalone devices immune to tampering, although he acknowledged the potential for human error.
On April 16, the Supreme Court criticized disparagement of EVMs and calls for a return to ballot papers, emphasizing the monumental nature of India’s electoral process and cautioning against undermining the system.
