NEW DELHI: Asserting that the present system of VVPAT slips is foolproof, the Election Commission of India (EC) on Friday told the Supreme Court that increasing the instances of counting the slips will require extensive training and capacity building of election officials and will delay the result by six days.
Filing an affidavit on a plea filed by 21 opposition leaders seeking direction to increase the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, the poll panel said, “It is further submitted that when the polls are imminent and polling is to commence from April 11, 2019, to now seek to alter the system adopted by the Election Commission of India at this stage might not be feasible.”
The poll panel, which opposed the petitions, said 50 per cent VVPAT slip verification in each Assembly segment of a Parliamentary Constituency or Assembly Constituency, on an average, would extend the time required for counting to about six days and said, “It is also relevant to mention that in many Assembly Constituencies, there are more than 400 polling stations, which will require about 8-9 days to complete the VVPAT slip count...”
Citing a report of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) report, the EC said the current practice of verifying slips in one booth per Assembly constituency in assembly polls and in one polling booth in each Assembly segment for Lok Sabha polls is sufficient.
Notice to poll panel
The Supreme Court also issued a notice to the Election Commission regarding alleged non-implementation of the top court’s past order of publishing the criminal record of candidates in newspapers.
The order said that it is mandatory for candidates to publish in newspapers about the pending criminal cases against them during their filing of the nomination paper in the run-up to the polls.
The polling for the LS elections begins on April 11 and goes on till May 19