EVM-VVPAT to stay: SC rejects plea for revival of ballot papers

Supreme Court rejects plea for paper ballots in Indian elections, suggests electronic counting and bar codes for transparency.

On a day when the nation is voting during the second phase of General elections, the Supreme Court on April 26, 2024, has rejected a plea to bring back paper ballots for voting process. The two-judge Bench also declined the plea for 100% cross verification of EVM-VVPAT vote counts with paper slips.

The top court also denied giving voters VVPAT paper slips to put in physically into the ballot boxes.

A Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which had reserved it judgment on April 24 on a batch of petitions seeking electoral reforms for a more transparent process, has given a series of recommendations.

The suggestions included an electronic machine for counting paper slips, and bar codes along with symbols to political parties.

The court has ordered sealing of the Symbol Loading Units after the symbol loading process on or after May 1, 2024. The sealed SLUs will be kept in the strong room along with the EVMs for 45 days after polling.

The court directed that candidates can verify 5% EVMs — ballot units, control units and VVPATs — of any given assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency by the engineers of the manufacturers. The exercise can be done on the written request of a candidate. The request should be made within seven days of the declaration of the election results. The District Election Officer shall certify the exercise. The candidate shall take the expenses. He or she would be refunded if the EVMs are found tampered with.

The main opinion of Justice Sanjiv Khanna was concurred with by Justice Dipankar Datta in a separate opinion.