Supreme Court to Announce Verdict Tomorrow on 100% EVM-VVPAT Verification in Lok Sabha Elections 2024

The verdict in the case concerning the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be delivered on a day when voting for 88 seats in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled. The verdict is expected to be announced by a Bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta at approximately 10:30 am.

The petitioners in the case include the non-profit Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and others. During the hearing on Wednesday, before the Supreme Court reserved its judgment, it emphasized that the court cannot “control the elections” based solely on doubts raised about the efficacy of EVMs.

A series of petitions alleged that EVMs can be tampered with to manipulate the election results. However, the court stated that it cannot alter the thought process of those expressing doubts about EVMs and calling for a return to ballot papers.

The Supreme Court posed five questions regarding the functioning of EVMs to an officer of the Election Commission, including whether the microcontrollers fitted in them are reprogrammable. Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas, who had previously presented to the court on the functioning of EVMs, addressed the question regarding microcontrollers, stating that they are one-time programmable and cannot be reprogrammed after installation in the EVMs.

However, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, representing petitioner ADR, contested the EC official’s statement, citing a report by a private body to support his argument. He alleged that the type of memory used in the EVMs can be reprogrammed, and a malicious program can be easily uploaded during symbol loading, urging efforts to dispel doubts about the transparency of EVMs.