SC rejects Opposition review plea seeking to increase VVPAT verification

The Opposition parties moved Court after reports of defective EVMs emerged after the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls. In some cases, it was reported, voters would cast their vote for a party but the EVM would record their vote for another party.

N Chandrababu Naidu of TDP, Farooq Abdullah of NC, D Raja of CPI, Abhishek Singhvi of Congress and Sanjay Singh of AAP outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by 21 Opposition parties seeking to verify at least 50 per cent of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi refused to review its April 8 order wherein it directed the Election Commission to increase matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs from one to five polling stations per assembly seat.

“We are not inclined to modify our order,” the bench said.

During the hearing, the petitions urged the Court to consider raising the VVPAT verification with EVMs to at least 25 per cent. The parties sought a review of the order as it only raised the random verification from 0.44 to a “mere 2 per cent”. They claimed this “will not make any substantial difference to the situation that existed prior to the passing of the impugned order”.

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Speaking outside the SC, TDP leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the petitioners respect the Court’s verdict. He added that they had approached the apex court to ensure transparency in the voting process for the elections.

The Opposition parties had moved Court after reports of defective EVMs emerged after the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. In some cases, it was reported, voters would cast their vote for a party but the EVM would record their vote for another party.

The Election Commission had contended that the results would be delayed by six days if the parties’ demand was met.

Explained | How SC order on VVPAT counting affects election results

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The petitioners in the case include Naidu, Sharad Chandra Pawar of the NCP, Congress leader K C Venugopal, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, Sharad Yadav of the Loktantrik Janata Dal, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, Satish Chandra Mishra of the BSP, DMK leader M K Stalin, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and National Congress leader Farooq Abdullah.

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