Supreme Court Rejects Demand for 100% Count of VVPAT Slips

[Sukla Sen]

[In the subject context, it's necessary to keep in mind that if one EVM can be manipulated, then each one can be manipulated.

Of course, it's going to call for appropriate scaling up of effort inputs. Hardly any hurdle for the regime.

The Chandigarh Mayoral poll pretty conclusively demonstrates that the regime would go and rig every little election if it's capable of doing that.

Yet, the BJP had roundly lost the assembly polls in West Bengal and Karnataka -- by far the two bitterest fights -- since 2019.

However, the stupid din over EVM has ensured that this Supreme Court judgement will have an adverse impact on the morale of the anti-BJP voters. Would, apart from helping to mask the myriad ways in which the poll is being actually rigged, add to the burden of voter apathy: If the result is pre-fixed, why take the trouble of going to vote?

How seriously that remains to be seen and depends on multiple factors including how the din-makers -- the true believers and the pragmatists -- conduct themselves now.

It should be clear to anybody and everybody that the call to vote with great gusto and the (loose and unsubstantiated) talks of the poll results being made to order via EVM manipulations simply don't go together.]

<<In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday (April 26) rejected the pleas seeking 100% cross-verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) data with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) records.

The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. Though the cases were reserved for orders on April 18, they were listed again on April 24 as the Bench wanted some technical clarifications from the Election Commission. Taking into consideration the answers given, the orders were pronounced today.

Notably, the two judges have authored separate, yet concurring, judgments in the matter.

Referring to the conclusion of the judgments, Justice Khanna said in Court that the prayers for reverting to ballot paper voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification, giving VVPAT slips to voters (to put them in the ballot box) and regarding Rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules have been rejected: "We have rejected all of them...after referring to the protocol in place, technical aspects as well as the data which is on record".

However, the following 2 directions have been issued :

(1) That on completion of the symbol loading process in the VVPAT, undertaken on or after 01.05.2024, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) shall be sealed and secured in containers. The candidates or their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the SLUs shall be kept in the strong rooms along with the EVMs at least for a period of 45 days post the declaration of results. They shall be opened and examined and dealt with as in the case of EVMs.

(2) That the burnt memory semi-controller in 5% of the EVMs, that is the Control Unit, Ballot Unit and the VVPAT, per assembly constituency or assembly segment of the Parliamentary constituency, shall be checked and verified by a team of engineers from the manufacturers of the EVM post the announcement of results, for any tampering or modification, on a written request made by candidates who are at serial number 2 or 3 behind the highest polled candidate. Such candidates or their representatives shall identify the EVMs by the polling station or the serial number. All candidates and their representatives shall have the option to remain present at the time of verification. Such a request should be made within 7 days of the declaration of the results. The District Election Officer, in consultation with the team of engineers, shall certify the authenticity and intactness of the burnt memory microcontroller. After the verification process is conducted, the actual cost or the expenses for the said verification will be notified by the ECI and the candidate making the said request will make payment of the said expenses. Expenses will be refunded in case the EVM is found to be tampered.

Besides the above, the bench suggested the ECI to see if there can be an electronic machine for counting the (VVPAT) paper slips and whether along with the symbol there can be a bar code for each party.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/-supreme-court-rejects-pleas-seeking-100-evm-vvpat-cross-verification-issues-directions-to-seal-symbol-loading-unit-256174>.)

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