 "Polling officials, VVPATs, voting")
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the pleas for complete EVM-VVPAT verification. In its judgement, the top court directed that the Symbol Loading Units be sealed and secured.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta passed the order.
Additionally, the SC directed that there will be an option for candidates to get the microcontroller program of EVMs to be checked by a team of engineers after the declaration of results.
A Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had earlier reserved its judgement on Wednesday after they received answers from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to technical queries it had asked for earlier in the day.
SC questions the technicalities of EVMs
In the previous hearing, the SC had raised several "technical questions" and directed the Election Commission to respond to queries concerning the cross-verification of votes cast in electronic voting machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
Election Commission's reply to SC queries on EVM
In its reply to the apex court's inquiry about the placement of the microcontroller in EVMs, the Election Commission had stated that each unit - ballot unit, VVPAT, and chip - has its own microcontroller securely housed within an unauthorised access detection module, preventing external access.
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In another query about the microcontroller's programmability, the poll body had affirmed that all microcontrollers are one-time programmable, explaining that they are permanently programmed upon insertion and cannot be altered thereafter.
When asked about the number of symbol-loading units, the ECI disclosed that there are two manufacturers responsible for symbol-loading: Electronic Corporation Of India and Bharat Electronics.
To clarify the time frame for filing election petitions, the election body clarified that all machines are stored in strong rooms for 45 days. If a petition is filed, the room remains locked and sealed; if not, it is opened.
In response to the last question regarding the sealing of units, the Commission clarified that the control unit is sealed due to its storage of polling data. Additionally, during commissioning, all three units are sealed with a pink seal, and the VVPAT is also sealed with signatures collected from all polling agents.
What is the EVM-VVPAT verification case?
One of the petitioners, the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), has requested a reversal of the Election Commission's 2017 decision to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque one, allowing voters to view the slip only when the light is on for seven seconds.
The ADR also advocates matching the count in EVMs with votes recorded as cast and ensuring that voters can verify through the VVPAT slip that their vote has been accurately tallied.
