NEW DELHI: With elections just around the corner, the Supreme Court on Monday suggested to the Election Commission that there is a need to increase VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Trail Audit) machines.
VVPAT machines, attached to EVMs, display the name of the candidate and their symbol on a piece of paper after a vote is cast. The voter can see the paper through a glass display for seven seconds before it drops into a sealed container.
At present, VVPAT is matched with the corresponding EVM at one polling booth in each Assembly segment of a LS constituency. The 2019 Lok Sabha polls would be the first where all EVMs would be attached with VVPATs but the Election Comission has not specified how many would be counted. During the hearing, EC Deputy Commissioner Sudeep Jain opposed the SC suggestion and said, “One VVPAT is used for counting in each Assembly segment and the system is working fine.”
This drew the Bench’s ire. “No institution can insulate itself from suggestion for improvement. If you are so up-to-date, then why did the EC introduce VVPAT only after court orders?” the Bench said. It asked the EC to spell out the difficulty if tallying was to be increased and asked it to file an affidavit by March 28 as it set the hearing for April 1. The EC has earlier said counting many paper slips would be a logistical nightmare.