SC RAISES QUESTIONS
Asking for clarifications, Justice Khanna while hearing the matter said, “We just wanted 3-4 clarifications. Is the micro-controller installed in the controlling unit or in the VVPAT? There seems to be an indication, that we were under the impression that the micro-controller is in the Control Unit. We were told that VVPAT has a flash memory.”
“The second thing we want to know is if the microcontroller installed is one-time programmable. Confirm that,” Justice Khanna added, saying, “Third thing is, there was a reference to Symbol Loading Units, how many of them are available?”
“It was said that the limitation for an election petition is 30 days and hence the data was stored for 45 days. However, as per the RP Act, the limitation period is 45 days. So the period for storage may have to be correspondingly increased?” questioned Justice Khanna.
Another thing that the apex court demanded clarification was on whether only the Control Unit is sealed or the VVPAT is kept separately.
NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday while hearing a batch of petitions seeking directions to tally Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the elections raised several “technical questions” and asked an Election Commission officer to be present in the court at 2 pm to solve the queries.
The matter was being heard by a bench comprising of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipnkar Datta after the top court reserved an order on April 18.
SC ON PETITIONS SEEKING 100% EVM-VVPAT VERIFICATION
Underscoring the importance of voter satisfaction and trust in the electoral system, the top court had during the hearing told petitioners, who sought its direction to go back to using ballot papers not to suspect the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and appreciate if the Election Commission does good work.
NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ (ADR), one of the petitioners, sought reversal of the poll panel’s 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque glass through which a voter can see the slip only when the light is on for seven seconds.
During the hearing, which spanned for nearly two days, the bench had interacted for nearly an hour with senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas to understand the functioning of EVMs and told advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO that voter satisfaction and trust are at the core of the electoral process.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, had submitted that EVMs are standalone machines and cannot be tampered with but possibility of human error cannot be ruled out.
On April 16, the top court had deprecated criticism of EVMs and calls for reverting to ballot papers, saying the electoral process in India is a “humongous task” and attempts should not be made to “bring down the system”.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls began on April 19 and the second phase is slated to be held on April 26.
