NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court was instrumental in reversing Election Commission’s 2012 reluctance into acceptance of the importance of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail in electronic voting machines (EVMs), first deployed in Nagaland’s Noksen Assembly bye-elections on Sep 4, 2013 without detecting any discrepancy between votes cast and VVPAT slips.
In its October 2013 judgment, a bench of then CJI P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, “Though initially the EC was little reluctant in introducing ‘paper trail’ by use of VVPAT, taking note of the advantage in the system, as demonstrated by petitioner Subramanian Swamy, we issued several directions to the EC.”
“Pursuant to the same, the EC contacted several expert bodies, technical advisers … held meetings with national and state political parties… and finally after a thorough examination and full discussion, VVPAT was used successfully in all 21 polling stations of Noksen (ST) Assembly Constituency of Nagaland,” the bench had said and noted the success of the new system.
SC had noted that representatives of political parties and other individuals had expressed their satisfaction over the VVPAT system. In its judgment, the SC had said, “We are satisfied that the ‘paper trail’ is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of voters in EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the ‘paper trail’.”
“EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system. With an intent to have fullest transparency in the system and to restore the confidence of the voters, it is necessary to set up EVMs with VVPAT system because voting is nothing but an act of expression which has immense importance in democratic system”, it had said and ordered EC for a phased introduction of VVPAT in all EVMs.
After the 2013 judgment, the EC had issued a guideline mandating counting of all VVPAT slips of one polling booth randomly selected in an Assembly segment. In 2019, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu had moved SC questioning accuracy of EVMs and had sought a direction to EC to count at least VVPAT slips in 50% of EVMs.
EC had said sample verification of VVPAT paper trail of one EVM by a team of Officers takes about an hour. “If what Naidu seeks, that is verification of VVPAT paper trail of 50% of the EVMs, declaration of result of election could be delayed by 5-6 days,” it had said.
While reposing full faith in EC and existing voting system, SC bench of Justices Gogoi, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna had said, “If number of EVMs which are subjected to verification of paper trail can be increased to a reasonable number, it would lead to greater satisfaction amongst not only political parties but entire electorate… We are of the view that if number of EVMs in respect of which VVPAT paper slips is to be subjected to physical scrutiny is increased from 1 to 5, additional manpower that would be required would not be difficult for the ECI to provide nor would the declaration of the result be substantially delayed.” At present, a bench led by Justice Khanna is adjudicating a petition seeking 100% counting of VVPAT slips.
In its October 2013 judgment, a bench of then CJI P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, “Though initially the EC was little reluctant in introducing ‘paper trail’ by use of VVPAT, taking note of the advantage in the system, as demonstrated by petitioner Subramanian Swamy, we issued several directions to the EC.”
“Pursuant to the same, the EC contacted several expert bodies, technical advisers … held meetings with national and state political parties… and finally after a thorough examination and full discussion, VVPAT was used successfully in all 21 polling stations of Noksen (ST) Assembly Constituency of Nagaland,” the bench had said and noted the success of the new system.
SC had noted that representatives of political parties and other individuals had expressed their satisfaction over the VVPAT system. In its judgment, the SC had said, “We are satisfied that the ‘paper trail’ is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of voters in EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the ‘paper trail’.”
“EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system. With an intent to have fullest transparency in the system and to restore the confidence of the voters, it is necessary to set up EVMs with VVPAT system because voting is nothing but an act of expression which has immense importance in democratic system”, it had said and ordered EC for a phased introduction of VVPAT in all EVMs.
After the 2013 judgment, the EC had issued a guideline mandating counting of all VVPAT slips of one polling booth randomly selected in an Assembly segment. In 2019, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu had moved SC questioning accuracy of EVMs and had sought a direction to EC to count at least VVPAT slips in 50% of EVMs.
EC had said sample verification of VVPAT paper trail of one EVM by a team of Officers takes about an hour. “If what Naidu seeks, that is verification of VVPAT paper trail of 50% of the EVMs, declaration of result of election could be delayed by 5-6 days,” it had said.
While reposing full faith in EC and existing voting system, SC bench of Justices Gogoi, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna had said, “If number of EVMs which are subjected to verification of paper trail can be increased to a reasonable number, it would lead to greater satisfaction amongst not only political parties but entire electorate… We are of the view that if number of EVMs in respect of which VVPAT paper slips is to be subjected to physical scrutiny is increased from 1 to 5, additional manpower that would be required would not be difficult for the ECI to provide nor would the declaration of the result be substantially delayed.” At present, a bench led by Justice Khanna is adjudicating a petition seeking 100% counting of VVPAT slips.