The Supreme Court on Friday gave its verdict on the petition regarding matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with the votes cast through EVM i.e. Electronic Voting Machine. After several days of hearing on the VVPAT case, the Election Commission has got a big relief from the Supreme Court. Amidst the ongoing second phase of Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court rejected all the petitions demanding 100 percent matching of votes cast through EVMs with VVPAT slips. Not only this, the demand for voting through ballot paper was also rejected. Justice Sanjeev Khanna said that we have rejected all the petitions related to VVPAT.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna, in his order, asked the Election Commission to keep the symbol loading unit safe for 45 days. The court further said that questions cannot be raised on a ready-made system blindly. If a candidate demands verification, then in that case the cost should be recovered from him, if any tampering is found in the EVM then the cost should be refunded to him.
In fact, many organizations had filed petitions in the Supreme Court demanding 100 percent matching of EVM and VVPAT slips. During the earlier hearing, the bench headed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna in the Supreme Court had reserved its decision. Justice Dipankar Dutta was also included in this bench. Earlier on Wednesday, the court had called an official of the Election Commission of India to clarify some technical aspects related to the functioning of EVMs.
Last week, the bench had reserved its decision on several public interest litigations (PILs) in this matter. She had said that official acts are generally considered valid under the Indian Evidence Act and everything done by the Election Commission cannot be doubted. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the central government’s second-highest lawmaker, had criticized the petitioners for filing PILs time and again on the eve of elections, saying the voter’s democratic choice was being turned into a joke. He said that the apex court has already rejected petitions seeking similar relief on this issue.
