Centre, Election Commission of India to reply on BSP plea against use of EVMs without VVPAT

A bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar issued notices to the government and the ECI and asked them to respond to the plea by May 8, the next date of hearing.

Election Commission of India premises (File | PTI)

NEW DELHI: In an important development, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Election Commission of India and Centre on the implementation of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATs) with electronic voting machines, claiming that the machines can be hacked.

The apex court sought reply from Centre and the poll panel by May 8 on the petition filed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), challenging use of EVMs without paper trail.

Congress and the Trinamool Congress have been allowed to file their intervening applications to be a part of the case along with other petitions.

Senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing on behalf of BSP told the bench, "it is mandatory to use Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) but the same has not been done widely."

Chidambaram also informed the bench that the Chief Election Commissioner has also written to the Prime Minister's Office in 2014 raising security concerns.

"No technology is full proof and technology is advancing and when one invents it somebody else finds way to tamper it," Chidambaram said, while adding that the poll panel needs Rs 3000 crore to implement the paper trail but centre is mum on this.

"There was no other way a voter could verify that the vote has gone to the symbol and person he intended.It is indispensable for free and fair elections and restore confidence of voters," Chidambaram added.

Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal also told the bench that "no where in the world are EVMs used other than India."