The Supreme Court has been contacted by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and other parties in an attempt to cross-verify the votes cast via VVPAT.
During its Tuesday hearing on a number of petitions seeking cross-verification of votes cast using Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), the Supreme Court raised concerns about returning to paper ballots for general election voting.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan made three recommendations to increase voting transparency during his appearance on behalf of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), one of which was to go back to paper ballots. Bhushan offered two further options: either make the VVPAT glass transparent or give voters the slip that the VVPAT generates to place in the voting box.
A paper slip has been produced by a VVPAT equipment and is shown to the voter on a screen for approximately seven seconds before being placed inside a sealed drop box.
Bhushan stated, “We can go back to paper ballots.” Giving the voters in question a VVPAT slip is an additional choice. If not, the slips fall into the machine, from where they can be taken by the voter and placed in the voting box. Subsequently, the original design of the VVPAT was altered. Originally intended to be transparent glass, it is now made of black opaque mirror glass that is only visible during brief periods of light.
In answer, Judge Sanjiv Khanna said, “We are in our 60s.” You may have forgotten, but we all know what occurred when there were ballot papers.
One of the petitioners, the ADR, has asked the supreme court to order the Election Commission and the Union government to make sure that voters can use VVPATs to confirm that their vote has been “counted as recorded”.
The plea states that while the VVPAT slip is visible for roughly seven seconds after pressing the button on the EVM through a transparent window, the need that voters confirm that their votes have been “recorded as cast” is partially satisfied.
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