The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed all petitions seeking the complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with VVPATs. A two-judge bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta also rejected a demand to go back to ballot papers in elections.
Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Sanjiv Khanna said that the court had elaborately discussed the protocols and technical aspects and had hence rejected the request for 100% verification of EVM votes with VVPAT slips.
“One suggestion which can be examined by the Election Commission of India would be whether there can be electronic machines for counting paper slips and whether there can be a bar code along with the symbols as regards which party,” he added.
However, the apex court passed on two directions. “One direction is after the completion of the symbol loading process, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) should be sealed. The SLU should be stored at least for a period of 45 days,” it said.
“The burnt memory in the microcontroller EVM shall be checked by a team of engineers after the declaration of results on a request by candidates in serial numbers 2 and 3. Such a request has to be made within seven days after the declaration of results,” the top court added.
The top court further asked the poll body to examine the suggestion for an electronic machine for vote counting the paper slips and whether along with the symbol there can be a bar code for each party.
The apex court said the “expenses for the verification (of the program) to be borne by the candidates making the request, in case the EVM is found to be tampered, the expenses will be refunded”.
