Congress Moves SC Demanding Verification Of VVPAT With EVM Votes; Court Says Won’t Interfere In Elections

The Congress Party’s plea demanding Supreme Court’s direction to the Election Commission (EC) to tally 20 per cent of all ballots in Gujarat with voter slips printed by the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines was rejected by the apex court today (15 December).

The court turned down the plea, refusing to interfere in the electoral process .

The Congress, represented by party leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal, moved the top court earlier in the day. The move came a day after the Congress launched an unprecedented attack on the EC, accusing it of bias.

VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home.

When the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party had questioned the reliability of the EVMs after elections in Uttar Pradesh, the poll panel had come out with a detailed release defending the machines.

The release had also mentioned about the VVPAT system, saying it has sought Rs 3,174 crore for buying VVPATs for every polling station in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. ECIL and BEL, two PSUs which manufacture VVPATs and EVMs, need 30 months to manufacture the required number of VVPAT units from the day funds are released.

The Supreme Court has supported the EC endeavour to use VVPATs in a phased manner to usher in more transparency in voting.

With inputs from PTI