Supreme Court Order on Petitions Seeking Complete Count of VVPAT Slips in Lok Sabha Elections

The judgment on the petitions was reserved by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta on April 18 after two days of hearings. During the extensive hearing, the bench interacted with an official from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to understand the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). An official from the Election Commission of India highlighted that EVMs are standalone machines and emphasized that while they cannot be tampered with, the possibility of human error cannot be ruled out. Justice Datta underscored the importance of maintaining the sanctity of the electoral process and urged the poll panel to allay apprehensions both in and outside the court.

Following the Election Commission’s submissions, the Supreme Court advised the petitioners against being overly suspicious, stating that not everything should be subject to doubt or criticism. The court also expressed reservations about the manual counting process, emphasizing the importance of not undermining the vast electoral system in India. The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) allows voters to verify that their vote was cast properly and went to their chosen candidate and generates a paper slip for potential dispute resolution. Amid concerns about the EVM system, petitions have been filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and activist Arun Kumar Agarwal, calling for cross-verification of every vote and the counting of all VVPAT slips, respectively.

The ADR’s petition also seeks the court’s direction to ensure that voters are able to verify through VVPATs that their votes have been accurately recorded.