The Supreme Court is set to announce its decision today on petitions advocating for comprehensive verification of votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) using Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips.
A two-judge bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, will deliver the verdict at 2 pm today. Currently, VVPAT verification is conducted in only five randomly selected EVMs in each Assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in response to a petition demanding the counting of all VVPAT paper slips during elections, instead of verifying only five randomly selected EVMs.
The petition contested the Election Commission’s guidelines, which stipulate sequential VVPAT verification, causing undue delays. It argued that simultaneous verification, coupled with the deployment of additional officers for counting in each Assembly constituency, could complete VVPAT verification in just five to six hours.
In response, the Election Commission reiterated its stance that EVMs are tamper-proof and that complete counting of VVPAT slips was not practically feasible. During a hearing on April 18, the Commission expressed distress over remarks regarding VVPAT slips, highlighting the extensive preparations undertaken for elections over the past three years. It emphasized that all EVMs undergo mock drills before deployment and that candidates are permitted to randomly select 5% of the machines, with the process repeated on voting day.