The demand for matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs before the elections has been raised frequently. This issue has come up once again before the counting of votes in five provinces. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on Wednesday. CJI NV Ramanna says that the counting of votes is on day after day. Will have to see if a new order can be placed. The court has also sought a response from the Election Commission.
The results of the assembly elections in the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab are due on March 10. Polling has been held in all these states. In Uttar Pradesh where polling was held in seven phases and in Manipur in two phases. Whereas in Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, polling was held in a single phase.
Just before the counting of votes, Advocate Meenakshi Arora raised the matter regarding VVPAT in the Supreme Court. He said that till now the VVPAT slips are tallied when the agents of all the parties have left. Whereas it should be that the slips should be matched in front of them. He said that this would leave no room for fraud.
The CJI said that the guidelines for 2019 already exist in this regard. His reference was to the Supreme Court’s April 8 order that at least five EVMs in each assembly segment should be matched with VVPAT slips. This order was given on a petition by political parties. Their demand was to increase the matching of VVPAT slips to 50 per cent of the polling stations. Significantly, VVPAT helps in detecting fraud or malfunction in the Electronic Voting Machine.
However, the court has said that the counting of votes is due day after day. Therefore, it has to be seen whether any new order can be passed in this matter. The CJI questioned the advocate as to why such a petition was filed at the last moment.