In VVPAT Case, SC’s 3 big directions on EVMs, symbol units
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the petition seeking directions to tally all Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during counting.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta also rejected the prayer for going back to paper ballots instead of EVMs. “We have rejected the prayer for paper ballot voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification, and physical deposit of VVPAT slips,” the Court said pronouncing concurrent judgments.
“While a balanced perspective is important but blindly doubting a system can breed skepticism and thus meaningful criticism is needed. Be it judiciary, legislature, etc. democracy is all about maintaining harmony and trust among all the pillars. By nurturing a culture of trust and collaboration, we can strengthen the voice of our democracy,” the Court said.
The Court passed the following directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and other authorities to make EVM foolproof:
- On completion of the symbol loading process, the symbol loading units shall be sealed, and the sealed container shall be kept in the strong rooms for 45 days.
- All candidates shall have the option to be present at the time of verification. The district election officer shall certify the authenticity of the burnt memory.
- Burnt memory in the microcontroller unit is to be checked by the team of engineers.
The VVPAT was attached to EVMs in the petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy after allegations of possible manipulations in the machines. The Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment in 2013, rejecting the arguments of the Election Commission. Currently, before the declaration of the results, five VVPATs per Assembly segment will be matched with the EVM results.[1]
Reference:
[1] VVPAT – Success story of Swamy’s legal battle against EVMs – Jul 22, 2016, PGurus.com
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