GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Friday, April 26, 2024, dismissed pleas seeking 100% cross-verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) data with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) records. The bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued the verdict, rejecting the calls for reverting to ballot paper voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification, and providing VVPAT slips to voters.
In its ruling, the Court issued two specific directions. The first requires that, following the symbol loading process in the VVPAT, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) should be sealed and secured in containers. These sealed containers, signed by candidates or their representatives, must be stored in strong rooms along with the EVMs for a minimum of 45 days after election results are declared.
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The second direction allows candidates who place second or third behind the highest-polling candidate to request a post-results verification of the burnt memory semi-controller in 5% of EVMs per assembly segment. This process will involve a team of engineers from the EVM manufacturers. The District Election Officer will then consult with the engineers to certify the authenticity of the burnt memory microcontroller. This verification request must be made within seven days of election results.
Regarding the costs involved, the Court noted that the candidate making the verification request would bear the expenses unless the EVMs were found to have been tampered with, in which case the costs would be refunded. The Court also suggested that the Election Commission consider implementing an electronic machine for vote counting of paper slips and a bar code for each party alongside the symbols.
During the hearing, Justice Datta remarked that unwarranted scepticism can result from blindly distrusting a system and that a critical yet constructive approach guided by evidence and reason is necessary to ensure credibility. Justice Khanna reiterated that the current EVM system had established protocols and that previous concerns about tampering had been largely unfounded.
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The Election Commission of India had opposed the pleas, arguing that complete EVM-VVPAT verification would be time-consuming and prone to human error. The Supreme Court agreed, noting that the current process was sufficient to ensure the integrity of elections.
The case, filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and others, coincided with the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The petitioners had sought measures to ensure a vote is recorded and counted accurately, but the Supreme Court's decision upheld the existing EVM system with limited post-results verification.
