Blindly distrusting a system can lead to unwarranted suspicion, said the Supreme Court on Friday while turning down a batch of petitions seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to mandatorily cross-verify the votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta also turned down the request for switching back to the ballot papers.
Justice Dipankar Datta, while delivering the verdict, observed the repercussions of “blindly distrusting” a system and called for a “critical yet constructive approach guided by evidence and reason”.
The bench, however, directed to seal the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) and asked that the same shall be secured in containers with the sign of the candidates or their representatives. “The SLUs shall be stored in the strong rooms along with the EVMS for a period of at least 45 days after the declaration of the results. SLUs should be dealt in the same manner as EVMs,” the top court said.
The two judges bench, which granted an extra layer of verification to the candidates, stated that candidates who secure 2nd and 3rd position in the results can request for the verification of burnt memory semi-controller in 5% of the EVMs per assembly segment in a Parliamentary constituency.
It said that on receiving a written complaint from the said candidate, the EVM shall be checked and verified by the engineer. After verification, the District Electoral Officer should notify the authenticity of the burnt memory and the expenses for the same shall be borne by the candidate. However, in the case of tampering with the EVM, the said expense shall be returned to the candidate.
The apex court has reserved its verdict on the matter on April 18. Observing that official acts are normally presumed to be done validly under the Indian Evidence Act, the court remarked that everything done by the poll body cannot be suspected.
In April 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the ECI to increase the VVPAT slips from one Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) per Assembly constituency to five.
It had issued guidelines for mandatory verification of VVPAT slips, out of five randomly selected polling stations, after completing the final round of counting votes recorded in EVMs.
A VVPAT is considered an independent verification system for voting machines, allowing voters to verify whether they have correctly cast their votes.
Explore Live updates on the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 2 In regions, including Kerala , Karnataka , Noida , and West Bengal . Stay informed about key constituencies, voting trends, and candidate insights. Get Lok Sabha Election 2024 Related Real-Time Updates At News18 Website.
Comments
0 comment