SC Directs ECI To Increase VVPAT Verification

The opposition led by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu filed a petition in the Supreme Court to count VVPAT slips of 50 percent of 13.5 lakh Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as there are several allegations of EVMS Tampering. The Election Commission objected to that saying that the results will be delayed by Six Days if that should happen.

Currently, after counting of votes in EVMs is over, one polling booth is selected randomly in every assembly seat and verified whether VVPAT slips count for each party matches with EVM votes or not. This is less than 1% of the total votes in an Assembly Segment. After hearing to the Petition, the Supreme Court has granted partial relief to the Opposition.

Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission that VVPAT Paper Trail verification should be increased from One EVM to Five EVMs per Assembly constituency. Indian General Elections will happen from April 11th to May 19th in Seven Phases and the counting will take place on May 23rd.