Supreme Court Rejects Plea For 100% EVM-VVPAT Verification, Issues Directions To Seal Symbol Loading Unit

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday (April 26) rejected the pleas seeking 100% cross-verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) data with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) records.

The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. Though the cases were reserved for orders on April 18, they were listed again on April 24 as the Bench wanted some technical clarifications from the Election Commission. Taking into consideration the answers given, the orders were pronounced today.

Notably, the two judges have authored separate, yet concurring, judgments in the matter.

Referring to the conclusion of the judgments, Justice Khanna said in Court that the prayers for reverting to ballot paper voting, complete EVM-VVPAT verification, giving VVPAT slips to voters (to put them in the ballot box) and regarding Rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules have been rejected: "We have rejected all of them...after referring to the protocol in place, technical aspects as well as the data which is on record".

Two directions issued

However, the following 2 directions have been issued :

(1) That on completion of the symbol loading process in the VVPAT, undertaken on or after 01.05.2024, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) shall be sealed and secured in containers. The candidates or their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the SLUs shall be kept in the strong rooms along with the EVMs at least for a period of 45 days post the declaration of results. They shall be opened and examined and dealt with as in the case of EVMs.

(2) That the burnt memory semi-controller in 5% of the EVMs, that is the Control Unit, Ballot Unit and the VVPAT, per assembly constituency or assembly segment of the Parliamentary constituency, shall be checked and verified by a team of engineers from the manufacturers of the EVM post the announcement of results, for any tampering or modification, on a written request made by candidates who are at serial number 2 or 3 behind the highest polled candidate. Such candidates or their representatives shall identify the EVMs by the polling station or the serial number. All candidates and their representatives shall have the option to remain present at the time of verification.  Such a request should be made within 7 days of the declaration of the results. The District Election Officer, in consultation with the team of engineers, shall certify the authenticity and intactness of the burnt memory microcontroller. After the verification process is conducted, the actual cost or the expenses for the said verification will be notified by the ECI and the candidate making the said request will make payment of the said expenses. Expenses will be refunded in case the EVM is found to be tampered.

Besides the above, the bench suggested the ECI to see if there can be an electronic machine for counting the (VVPAT) paper slips and whether along with the symbol there can be a bar code for each party.

Justice Datta, referring to the additional points of his judgment, further remarked that while maintaining a balanced perspective especially in evaluating systems or institutions, blindly distrusting any aspect of the system can lead to unwarranted skepticism and impede progress; "instead, a critical yet constructive approach guided by evidence and reason should be followed to make room for meaningful [inference] and to ensure the system's credibility and effectiveness".

Notably, the passing of the judgment coincides with the beginning of phase 2 of Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Background

The petitions had been filed by NGO-Association for Democratic Reforms, Abhay Bhakchand Chhajed and Arun Kumar Aggarwal. The petitioners prayed that instead of the prevalent procedure, where the Election Commission cross-verifies EVM votes with VVPATs in only 5 randomly selected polling stations in each assembly constituency, all VVPATs be verified. They further sought measures to ensure that a vote is 'recorded as cast' and 'counted as recorded'.

The ECI opposed the pleas saying that it was another attempt to cast doubt over the functioning of EVMs and VVPATs on 'vague and baseless' grounds. In addition, it was argued that counting all VVPAT paper slips manually, as suggested, would not only be labor and time-intensive, but also be prone to 'human error' and 'mischief'. It was further the ECI's case that EVMs are non-tamperable and voters have no such fundamental right as claimed by the petitioners.

To understand the underlying controversy, ie the EVM-VVPAT issue, click here.

Other reports about the judgment can be read here.

Case Title: Association of Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India & Anr. | Writ Petition (Civil) No. 434 of 2023

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 328

Click here to read the judgment