EVM-VVPAT Verification Case: SC Asks ECI for Clarifications and Raises Technical Questions

In considering a number of petitions on Wednesday asking for instructions on tallying voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast using electronic voting machines (EVMs) during the election, the Supreme Court brought up a number of technical concerns and requested that an Election Commission representative appear in court at 2:00 pm to address them.

Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipnkar Datta made up the panel hearing the case after the Supreme Court on April 18 reserved its decision.

The top court stressed during the hearing that voters should not doubt the effectiveness of electronic voting machines (EVM) and should be grateful when the Election Commission performs its duties, highlighting the significance of voter satisfaction and trust in the electoral system.

One of the petitioners, the non-governmental organization “Association for Democratic Reforms” (ADR), asked the poll panel to reverse its 2017 decision to swap out the clear glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque glass that allows voters to see the slip only while the light is on for seven seconds.

The bench spent almost an hour learning about the operation of electronic voting machines (EVMs) from senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas during the nearly two-day hearing. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO, was informed by the bench that voter satisfaction and trust are fundamental to the electoral process.

In representing the Election Commission, senior attorney Maninder Singh argued that while electronic voting machines are independent devices that cannot be tampered with, human error is still a possibility.

The highest court rejected criticism of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and requests for going back to paper ballots on April 16. It said that the Indian election process is a “humongous task” and that attempts should not be made to “bring down the system.”

The second phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for April 26. The polling started on April 19.

In order to guarantee that voters may confirm via the VVPAT slip that their vote, as recorded on the paper slip, has been “counted as recorded,” the ADR has attempted to match the count in EVMs with votes that have been verifiably “recorded as cast.”

HOW DOES VVPAT WORK AND WHAT IS IT?
Using a ballotless voting system, voters may get feedback via the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, or VVPAT. In order to enable voters to confirm that their vote was cast properly, to identify potential election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a way to audit the recorded electronic results, a VVPAT is meant to serve as an independent verification mechanism for voting machines.

The machine shows the party/candidate symbol as well as the name of the candidate for whom a vote has been cast.

The VVPATs are an additional means of confirmation and come in handy when there are claims of electronic voting machine manipulation. It is the poll workers that have access to the machines, not the voters.