SC to Review Petition for Voter Verification of EVMs with VVPAT on April 16: The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for April 16 regarding a plea requesting cross-verification of votes cast by voters with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). This decision came from a bench led by Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, who stated that they will address the pleas next Tuesday. The plea was filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and others, aiming to ensure that votes recorded in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are accurately reflected in the VVPAT. This move comes ahead of the upcoming seven-phase Lok Sabha polls set to commence on April 19.
Last year in July, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission of India to respond to the plea put forth by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The NGO had urged the court to direct both the Election Commission and the Centre to guarantee that voters have the ability to verify through VVPATs that their votes have been accurately recorded. The plea also seeks to declare unconstitutional the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, and the practices of the Election Commission that obstruct voters’ fundamental right to verify their votes.
According to the plea, while the current process allows voters to verify that their votes have been “recorded as cast” through the display of the VVPAT slip for about seven seconds, there’s a significant gap in ensuring that their votes have been “counted as recorded.” The plea highlights the absence of a procedure for voters to verify if their votes have been accurately counted, which is deemed crucial for ensuring voter verifiability. The plea outlines the necessity of closing this gap in the electoral process to uphold the integrity of the voting system and safeguard voters’ rights.
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