EVM-VVPAT issue: SC asks ECI to explain Prashant Bhushan’s claim

The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed hearing the plea seeking 100% cross verification of VVPATs with EVMs. Advocate Prashant Bhushan Appearing for Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) told the Supreme Court that at least four electronic voting machines (EVM) erroneously registered votes in favour of BJP during mock polling in Kasaragod on Wednesday, April 17.

According to the news report cited in the court by Bhushan, LDF and UDF candidates’ agents have alleged that at least four EVMs erroneously registered votes in favour of BJP during mock polling in Kasaragod on April 17.

According to the Manorama report, a complaint has also been filed by LDF candidate and CPM leader M V Balakrishnan with the District Collector Inbasekar K, designated as the District Election Officer. The UDF candidate Rajmohan Unnithan’s agent Muhammed Nasar Cherkalam Abdulla has also urged the assistant returning officer (ARO) in Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency to change the erring machines.

A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta resumed hearing the case today and asked the ECI to check allegations.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard the pleas seeking counting and cross-verification of 100% VVPAT paper slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The petitioners moved the top court against the present system of counting VVPATs in 5 randomly selected polling booths per Assembly. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has termed the demand by the petitioners as “regressive” and equivalent to reverting to paper ballot system. The court today heard the petitioners and adjourned the hearing till Thursday.

The petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in 2023, stated that the current practice by the ECI to count the electronically recorded votes in all of the EVMs and cross-verify EVMs with the VVPATs in only 5 randomly selected polling booth per assembly constituency is not sufficient.

On Tuesday, Advocate Prashant Bhushan initiated his argument in court, asserting that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have the potential to be manipulated. Bhushan clarified, “we aren’t saying they are manipulated or have been. We are saying that they can be manipulated as both EVM and VVPAT have two kinds of chips. First memory in the chip that can be programmed and a flash memory used during symbol loading.”

Bhushan proceeded to highlight that most European countries have opted out of using EVMs due to concerns about their reliability. He argued that EVMs are susceptible to manipulation since they are programmable, allowing for the installation of malicious programs.

A Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta presided over the case and posed several queries to the petitioners. The bench also dismissed the suggestion to revert to the ballot paper system. Currently, the bench is considering the Election Commission of India’s submission on the matter.