SC asks ECI to look into alleged EVM malfunctioning
The Supreme Court on Thursday told the Election Commission of India to explain the steps followed to ensure free and fair polling in the country, amid allegations of electronic voting machines malfunctioning. An SC bench made the comment while hearing a clutch of petitions demanding verification of votes cast via the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine. "This is...electoral process. There has to be sanctity. Let nobody have apprehension that something which is expected is not being done," it said.
Why does this story matter?
The pleas seek 100% verification of votes cast via the EVMs with VVPAT slips. The VVPAT is an independent system attached to the EVM that allows voters to ensure that their ballots are cast correctly. Opposition parties have often alleged EVM tampering and demanded that elections be conducted using ballot papers. On Thursday, advocate Prashant Bhushan highlighted a report on mock poll results in Kerala, which showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received extra votes.
Proposals for enhancing voter confidence in VVPAT system
Keeping this in mind, Bhushan proposed that the VVPAT machine's light should stay on continuously instead of the current seven-second duration. Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing a petitioner, suggested that voters should be allowed to collect their VVPAT slip after voting and deposit it in a ballot box. Separately, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, also appearing for petitioners, said there should be a separate audit to add greater credibility to the counting process.
Machine undergoes inspection before polls: ECI
In its response, the ECI, however, dismissed the reports on mock poll results as false. The voting process was explained by the poll body, stating that the EVM's control unit instructs the VVPAT unit to print its paper slip. This slip remains visible to the voter for seven seconds before being deposited into a sealed box. Additionally, the machines undergo inspection in the presence of engineers before polling begins.
ECI details VVPAT system's operation and security
In response to a query, the poll body denied the existence of software in the VVPAT printer. It added, "There is a 4 megabyte flash memory in every PAT which stores symbols...The returning officer prepares electronic ballot, which is loaded into the symbol loading unit." The court questioned whether this symbol loading unit is sealed to prevent tampering, to which the ECI replied that there is currently no such procedure in place.
Voting machines allocated randomly
The poll body also told the court that all voting machines pass through the mock poll process. "Candidates are allowed to pick up randomly 5% machines. The process is repeated on poll day...VVPAT slips are taken out, counted...matched," it said. When the court asked how a voter can check if his/her vote has been cast, the official replied that the poll body gives demonstrations and runs awareness programmes for this. It added that voting machines get allocated to constituencies randomly.
SC rejects plea to return to paper ballots
To recall, on Tuesday, the apex court rejected the arguments of Bhushan, appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), about how most European countries that had opted for voting through EVMs have returned to paper ballots. "We are in our 60s. We all know what happened when there were ballot papers; you may have, but we have not forgotten," Justice Sanjiv Khanna had said.
