Informist, Friday, Apr 26, 2024

--SC rejects pleas seeking paper ballot voting

--SC junks pleas to match all paper trail slips with voting machines

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today rejected petitions seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast on electronic voting machines with paper slips generated through voter verifiable paper audit trail. It also rejected petitions seeking to return to ballot papers for voting in the election, and dismissed the idea of allowing voters to take the voter verifiable paper audit trail slip and deposit it in ballot boxes.

A Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta gave directions that after the completion of the symbol loading process, the symbol loading unit should be sealed.

"...on completion of the symbol loading process in the electronic voting machine undertaken on or after May 1, the symbol loading unit should be sealed and secured in containers. The candidates and their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the symbol loading units shall be kept in the store rooms along with the electronic voting machines at least for 45 days post the declaration of results," the court said.

Candidates who secure the second and third positions can request for verification of burnt memory semicontroller in 5% of the electronic voting machines per Assembly segment in a parliamentary constituency, the apex court said. "Such a request to be made within seven days of the declaration of the results...the actual cost to be borne by the candidate making the request. Expenses to be refunded in case the EVMs are found to be tempered," the court said.

The court said all candidates would have the option to be present at the time of verification, and the district election officer would certify the authenticity of the burnt memory.

The Bench said that while maintaining a balanced perspective was crucial in evaluating systems or institutions, blindly distrusting any aspect of the system could lead to unwarranted scepticism and impede progress. "Instead, a critical yet constructive approach guided by evidence and reason should be followed...to ensure the system's credibility and effectiveness," it said.

The court asked the Election Commission of India to examine suggestions for an electronic machine for counting the paper slips, and to see if there could be a bar code for each party along with the symbol.

A petition by the Association for Democratic Reforms and other petitioners raised concerns about discrepancies between the vote count of electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trails. They said electronic voting machines could malfunction or be tampered with to record votes in favour of a political party. They also gave examples of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, when, in some cases, a difference was reported in the results recorded in electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trails.

The poll panel said electronic voting machines were safe and couldn't be tampered with at any stage. It had objected to the idea of cross verification of all electronic voting machine votes with voter verifiable paper audit trail slips, saying thos would be regressive and tantamount to reurning to the days of manual voting using a ballot system. The commission has said differences in vote count, if any, were traceable to human errors like non-deletion of mock poll votes.

In a hearing on Apr 18, the top court had said everything couldn't be suspected and petitioners didn't have to be critical about each and every aspect of electronic voting machines. "Mismatch between electronic voting machines, voter verifiable paper audit trail and register entries at a polling booth could happen because of a mix of factors. There are times when people sign in to the register and enter the poll booths but do not press the electronic voting machine. There could be similar other reasons," it had said.

Earlier, the apex court had also expressed concern about the idea of returning to the ballot paper era. The bench had said it had not yet forgotten what used to happen when votes were cast through ballot papers. "Fortunately, we are now in our sixties. We have seen what used to happen earlier. Have you forgotten that? If you have forgotten that, I am sorry. I have not forgotten," the court had said.

The court had also posed a series of questions on the working of the electronic voting machines and the process of storing them and the counting of votes. "This is (an) electoral process. There has to be sanctity. Let nobody have apprehension that something which is expected is not being done," the top court had said.

This isn't the first time the apex court has taken up this issue. In 2019, it had directed the poll panel to increase the number of electronic voting machines subjected to voter verifiable paper audit trail physical verification from one to five per Assembly segment in parliamentary constituencies. The same year, it had rejected a plea seeking complete counting of voter verifiable paper audit trail in the Lok Sabha elections.

In December, the opposition INDIA bloc passed a resolution, demanding 100% verification of voter verifiable paper audit trail slips. The issue assumes significance in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and the Opposition members raising questions about the foolproof nature of electronic voting machines. End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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