EVM-VVPAT case: SC will pass judgment on early 100% verification of EVM votes

As India votes in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections today, the Supreme Court will announce its crucial verdict on several pleas and petitions seeking 100% cross-verification of votes cast using the electronic voting machines ( EVMs). ) using the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT) slips.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will announce the verdict at 10.30 am today.

The SC had reserved its judgment on the issue on April 24 and sought clarification from the Election Commission on the 100 percent verification.

During the hearing, the bench raised specific technical concerns about EVMs, particularly the reprogrammability of their microcontrollers. In response, the Election Commission of India emphasized that the microcontrollers in EVMs are one-time programmable and cannot be changed after production.

“We only wanted three to four clarifications. In fact, we would have to correct. One of them is: is the microcontroller installed in the control unit or in the VVPAT? There seems to be an indication that we had the impression that the microcontroller is in the control unit Unit We were told that VVPAT has a flash memory,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna told LiveLaw.

Responding to these concerns, the Election Commission said any tampering with the EVM is not possible. Further, the ECI claimed that conducting a complete count of the VVPAT slips is not feasible and practical.

The VVPAT is a technique that ensures that voters receive visual evidence that their vote has been cast. Paper slips are displayed on the VVPAT machine for seven seconds along with the serial number, name and party symbol of the candidate he voted for so that voters can check their votes.