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Supreme Court on EVM : An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court regarding the EVM machine used for voting. In which a demand has been made to count the votes by calling for both EVM and VVPAT slips. A hearing regarding this was held in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Supreme Court said that we cannot control the elections. There is doubt only on EVMs and we cannot pass orders on the basis of this alone. The court has reserved the decision for the second time after taking information on four-five more points related to technology. That means now the decision is awaited. It is expected that a decision will be taken before the elections are over.
Currently, under VVPAT verification, EVM votes and VVPAT slips of only five polling stations in each assembly constituency of the Lok Sabha constituency are counted. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the ECI on a plea seeking counting of all EVM votes and VVPAT slips instead of verifying only five randomly selected EVMs in the election.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court sought answers from the Election Commission on four-five questions related to the functioning of EVMs. The court said that we need more information. Because we want in-depth information about the root of the matter. Justice Khanna said, “We have studied the questions that are often asked. We just want three-four clarifications. We don't want to be factually wrong but want to be absolutely sure about our findings and that's why we thought of asking for clarification. The lawyer appearing for one of the petitioners said that the source code of the EVMs should also be disclosed for transparency. To this Justice Khanna replied that the source code should never be disclosed. If exposed it will be misused.
Supreme Court sought answers to these 4 questions
1. Is there any microcontroller installed in the control unit or VVPAT?
2. Can a microcontroller be programmed once?
3. How many symbol loading units are available in EVM?
4. The limit for election application is 30 days and hence the data is stored in the EVM for 45 days. But the Act has a limit of 45 days for its protection. Can the storage period be extended?
Is the microcontroller in the controlling unit or in the VVPAT?
“We just want clarification,” the judge said. Is the microcontroller installed in the controlling unit or in the VVPAT? For now we assume that the microcontroller is in the control unit. We were told that VVPAT has flash memory. The second thing we want to know is whether the microcontroller is installed or not. Is it worth programming once? confirm it. Third, you refer to symbol loading units. How many of them are available? Fourth thing is that the time limit for filing election petition as per you is 30 days and thus the storage and records are maintained for 45 days. But the maximum limit for filing an election petition under the Act is 45 days. You have to fix it. Secondly, is the control unit sealed only or is the VVPAT kept separate? We need some clarification on that.
ADR gave argument
Air ADR counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, argued that every microcontroller has a flash memory. It is not correct to say that no other program can be placed in flash memory. On this, the Election Commission official told the court that a voting unit consists of a ballot unit, a control unit and a VVPAT unit. All units have their own microcontroller. This controller cannot be tampered with. All microcontrollers can be programmed only once. We have two creators for uploading election symbols. One is ECI and the other is Bharat Electronics.
The Election Commission said that all EVMs will be kept safe in the strong room for 45 days. After this, it was confirmed by the Registrar of the Election Commission that no application has been filed regarding the elections. If no application is filed then the strong room is opened. The strong room is kept sealed when the application is filed.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna said that that is why we asked the same question to the Election Commission. The Election Commission says that no other program can be fed in the flash memory. He says that he does not upload any program in the flash memory but uploads the election symbols which are in the form of photographs. We have to trust the Commission on technical matters. Prashant Bhushan argued that, but they can upload any wrong program with the election symbol. I doubt it.
Answer reserved after clarification from Election Commission
The Supreme Court said that we understand your argument. We will take these into account in our decision. Justice Dipankar Dutta asked Prashant Bhushan whether we can pass orders on the basis of doubt. The report you are relying on states that no incident of hacking has taken place so far. We cannot control any other constitutional authority. We cannot control elections. VVPAT was mentioned in the Supreme Court decision and was followed. But it says that all the slips have to be taken, it says 5%. Now let us see if apart from this 5% any candidate says that there have been cases of misconduct. After the clarification from the Election Commission, the Supreme Court reserved its decision.
