The Supreme Court of India (SC), while hearing a petition, issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in order to cross-check the vote count of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The petitioner requested the court to ensure a complete count of VVPAT slips against the prevailing practice of verifying the count of only five randomly selected EVMs with VVPAT slips. This decision has come amidst election fraud allegations by the opposition parties against the ruling party.
About VVPAT
- VVPAT machines print a paper slip that contains the candidate’s name, serial number, and party symbol. After casting a vote, this slip appears for 7 seconds through a transparent window before the voters to allow them to check if the vote has been cast for the selected candidate and party.
- After 7 seconds, the slip falls into a sealed box within the machine that can be accessed only by the polling agent.
- VVPATs were first used in the by-election of the Noksen assembly constituency in Nagaland in 2013.
- ECI used VVPATs in all the constituencies during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
About Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
- They record votes electronically. In 1982, ECI used EVMs for the first time to conduct the Paravur assembly elections in Kerala.
- The ECI has increased the use of EVMs since 1998 to ensure fast elections and counting.
- The ECI used EVMs for all state elections and by-elections.
- For the first time in 2004, the ECI used only EVMs to conduct Lok Sabha elections.
- 2,000 votes can be cast through an EVM used in India.
- EVMs run on battery cells.
- Lack of transparency, trust issues, and reliability have been the big concerns associated with EVMs. Their authenticity has always been in doubt.
