EC stand on VVPAT audit must change

VVPAT slips should be matched with the EVM count in 14 booths per assembly constituency

The next hearing of the electronic voting machines (EVM) case in the Supreme Court on April 1 presents a golden opportunity to set this debate to rest, just in time for one of the most critical Lok Sabha elections in the history of independent India. All we need now is the Election Commission to budge from a pointlessly stubborn position, frowned upon by the apex court, that verification of just one booth per constituency is sufficient.

I have been arguing for some time that the EVM debate is unnecessary and harmful. I had suggested that instead of junking EVMs, we should