A polling official checks Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) kept inside a strong room ahead of the first phase of voting for Lok Sabha elections, in Agartala.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that everything about the EVMs cannot be suspected and sanctity of the electoral process must be maintained, while reserving judgment on pleas for raising VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) counts to 100 per cent.
"Every time you do not have to be critical about everything. We heard you at length, as we were also concerned, if something has to be improved upon. Is everything has to be explained to you or to anybody else? As long as they are doing it within four corners of the law, that is fine," a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta told the PIL petitioners led by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms.
The top court also emphasised that it is important to allay everybody's apprehensions in connection with the electoral process and there has to be sanctity as it sought to know from the Election Commission details of the steps followed to ensure free and fair elections.
After hearing Deputy Election Commissioner, senior advocate Maninder Singh for the poll body and advocate Prashant Bhushan, senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sanjay Hegde, Santosh Paul and others for the petitioners, the bench told them, “Everything cannot be suspected. We have heard them (EC), please appreciate if they have done something good."
Appearing as officer of the court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to harm to democracy being caused by such kinds of PILs and asked the court to dismiss the pleas with cost.
"This happens periodically on the eve of elections. It has an impact on voter turnout, and harms democracy. They are making choice of voter into a joke. I have told everyone on my side that be ready for some planted article/news article for tomorrow," he said.
During the hearing, the court asked the Election Commission to allay any apprehension with regard to electoral process and functioning of EVMs and VVPATs.
The court sought to know the whole process of voting and counting through EVMs, while hearing a plea for raising VVPATs counts to 100 %.
"What we wanted either you or some officer should allay all apprehensions of those inside the court room or those outside...it is an electoral process, there has to be some sanctity. Let nobody have any apprehension that something which is not expected is being done," the bench said.
"You tell us the whole process how candidates representatives are involved and how tampering is prevented," the bench asked Nitesh Vyas, Deputy EC.
The court also sought to know if there has been no mismatch between VVPATs and EVMs.
"What are the harms if a voter is handed over a slip that he has cast his vote," the bench asked.
The officer said it may affect secrecy of votes and may also result in deliberate mischief.
Initially, the court asked senior advocate Singh, appearing for the Election Commission to cross check an allegation that the BJP candidate got extra votes during the mock polls in Kasargod district of Kerala.
Advocate Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, referred to a news report that four EVMs and VVPATs recorded one extra vote for BJP during the mock poll.
The court asked Singh to cross check the matter.
In the post lunch session, the EC official claimed the news report was examined and it was found to be false.
After hearing the official at length, the bench said, "There seems to be some disconnect between what you are telling us and what is available in public domain, that needs to be bridged as voters trust and integrity of entire mechanism is to be maintained."
During the hearing, the EC's counsel submitted there has been only one instance of mismatch between EVMs and VVPATs count as mock poll data were not deleted.
Singh submitted that EVMs are standalone machines and they cannot be tampered with, and also the VVPAT cannot be tampered with. He said human error cannot be ruled out in manual counting but it has been minimized.
Concurring with the submission, the bench said paper ballots have huge drawbacks and “we do not want to even think about it”.
Singh said only 25 complaints were received and all of them were found to be false and no single case of transfer of vote from candidate A to candidate B has been detected and the only error which may have happened is when the data of mock poll has not been deleted.
The officer explained the process of voting and casting of votes through EVMs which comprised of control unit, ballot unit and VVPATs.
The plea sought complete count of VVPAT slips in elections as opposed to the current practice of verification of only five randomly selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips.
The voting on 102 constituencies across 21 states and Union territories for Lok Sabha 2024 polls would start on April 19 in the first phase of general elections.