Following receiving the Election Commission’s responses, the petitioners were informed by the Supreme Court that having suspicions about anything is problematic.
New Delhi: In response to a number of petitions requesting instructions to match votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the polls with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, the Supreme Court will render a decision today.
Judges Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta’s bench asked a senior Election Commission of India (ECI) officer to appear in court at 2:00 pm today to respond to a few questions.
- Is the VVPAT or the controlling unit equipped with a microcontroller?
- Is it possible to program the microcontroller only once?
- Units for loading symbols. What number of are in the Election Commission’s possession?
- You mentioned that there is a 30-day limit to file an election petition; therefore, records and storage must be kept for 45 days. However, the 45-day limitation day is incorrect; you must fix it.
“Factually, we ought to be on the same page; we just needed a few clarifications. The Supreme Court said, “Please phone the officer at 2:00 PM.
At 2:00 pm, the bench will now meet.
The bench had significant interaction with a poll panel officer during the previous hearing in order to comprehend how EVMs worked.
When representing the election panel, senior attorney Maninder Singh informed the court that although electronic voting devices are unhackable and cannot be tampered with, human mistake is still a possibility.
Justice Datta reminded Mr. Singh, “You have to allay the apprehensions, both in the court and outside the court,” emphasizing the need for the election process to be sacred. No one should be concerned that something that is expected of them is not being done.”
After hearing arguments from the Election Commission, the Supreme Court informed the petitioners that having too much suspicion of anything is problematic.
“It is impossible to detect anything. It is impossible to criticize everything. You have to be grateful for any good that they (the ECI) have done. The bench informed the petitioner’s attorney, “You don’t have to be critical of everything.”
The panel voiced concerns on the manual counting procedure during a previous hearing on April 16, stating that the Indian electoral process is a “humongous task” and that attempts should not be made to “bring down the system”.
Voters can check if their preferred candidate received the majority of the vote by using the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, or VVPAT. In the event of a disagreement, the paper slip produced by the VVPAT can be unsealed and is stored in a sealed cover.
At present, each Assembly segment’s five randomly chosen EVMs’ VVPAT slips are validated.
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The petitions ask for a cross-verification of each vote in response to the opposition’s concerns and queries about the electronic voting machine technology.
Read Also: “We have not forgotten”: The Supreme Court’s remarks regarding the “paper ballot”.
