Supreme Court Denies 100% EVM Cross-Verification, Issues New Election Security Guidelines
Image Source: The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Friday, April 26, dismissed pleas seeking a 100% cross-verification of data from Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) records. The ruling, delivered by a bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, came after the court requested technical clarifications from the Election Commission on April 24, before announcing its final decision.
Although the judges wrote separate but concurring opinions, Justice Khanna outlined the main conclusions in court. He confirmed that demands to revert to ballot paper voting, conduct complete EVM-VVPAT verification, or provide VVPAT slips to voters for deposit into ballot boxes were all rejected. The decision was based on existing protocols, technical details, and data records. Justice Khanna stated that all such requests were denied.
However, the court issued two directions as part of its ruling:
From May 1, 2024, after the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) completes its process in the VVPAT, the SLU must be sealed and stored in containers. The containers are to be signed by candidates or their representatives and kept in secure storage with the EVMs for at least 45 days following the announcement of the election results. After this period, the SLUs should be handled like other EVMs.
In at least 5% of EVMs from each assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency, the memory microcontroller should be examined and verified by engineers from the EVM manufacturers. This can occur after the announcement of results, upon a written request from candidates ranked second or third in the results. The candidates can identify specific EVMs for verification based on the polling station or serial number. Candidates and their representatives may be present during this verification process. The costs of this process will be disclosed by the Election Commission of India, and the requesting candidate will bear the expenses. If tampering is found, expenses will be refunded.
Justice Khanna also asked the Election Commission to consider implementing electronic vote-counting machines for the paper slips and adding barcodes for each party, in addition to the symbols.
Justice Datta cautioned against blind distrust in the EVM system, emphasising the importance of a balanced, evidence-based approach. His judgement highlighted that scepticism without reason could undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the electoral system. This ruling coincided with the start of phase two of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
The petitions, filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and others, called for 100% VVPAT verification, arguing that the current practice of verifying only 5 polling stations per assembly constituency was inadequate. The Election Commission opposed the pleas, asserting that EVMs and VVPATs were reliable and non-tamperable and claiming that manual verification of all paper slips would be time-consuming and prone to human error. The Commission also contended that voters had no fundamental right to demand a full manual count of VVPAT slips.
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