No change in vote counting process for election, rules Apex Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) this morning rejected petitions seeking 100 percent cross-verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with paper slips generated through the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) method. The two-Judge Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta delivered concurrent but separate judgements.

“While a balanced perspective is important, blindly doubting a system can breed scepticism 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,” Justice Datta said in the judgment. He added that the Court’s approach in this matter has been guided by evidence.

The SC, however, passed two directions for the Election Commission. The Court said that after symbols are loaded into an EVM, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) should be sealed and secured in containers. The candidates and their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the SLUs shall be kept in the storerooms along with the EVMs at least for 45 days after the declaration of results, the Court said.

The Court further said that the burnt memory semi-controller in 5 percent of the EVMs that is the Control Unit, Ballot Unit and the VVPAT per Assembly segment in a Parliamentary                                                     Constituency shall be checked and verified by a team of engineers from the manufacturers of the EVM after the announcement of results.

This check will be carried out on a written request by candidates 2 and 3. Such a request is to be made within 7 days of the declaration of the results. The cost will be borne by the candidate making the request and expenses must be refunded if the EVMs are found to be tampered with.

The bunch of petitions before the Apex Court had sought a direction to cross-verify every vote cast on EVMs with paper slips generated by the VVPAT system. Currently, this cross-verification is done for five randomly selected EVMs in every Assembly Constituency. The Election Commission stressed that the current system is foolproof.

The SC had earlier said it is not the controlling authority for elections and cannot dictate the functioning of the Election Commission, a constitutional authority. It had also wondered if it could act on mere suspicion.