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New Delhi: With days left to count for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, the opposition is accusing the government of tampering with electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the opposition several tough questions regarding EVMs and VVPATs. Also reminded about the use of ballot paper. The Supreme Court said that when there is human intervention, problems arise. Otherwise the machine gives you quite accurate results.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a petition demanding that every voter should get a VVPAT slip for verification while voting through EVMs. While the first phase of Lok Sabha elections is on April 19, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta has postponed the further hearing of the case till April 18.
In this hearing, Justice Khanna made an important comment and said that when there is human intervention, the problems increase. A machine can give you very accurate answers if there is no human intervention. The problem arises when there is human interference. If you have any suggestion to prevent tampering with the machine, you can give.
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and social activist Arun Kumar Aggarwal have filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding 100 percent retrieval of EVM votes and VVPAT tickets. During the hearing on this application, the bench asked many tough questions to senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing on behalf of ADR.
Prashant Bhushan said that most of the voters do not trust EVMs, when Justice Dipankar Dutta asked him, you said that most of the voters do not trust EVMs. Where and how did you get this data? In response to this, Prashant Bhushan said that a survey was conducted. This claim can be made from this. Justice Dutta said, we cannot rely on private surveys.
In another argument, Prashant Bhushan said that India should return to ballot paper like European countries. However, Justice Sanjeev Khanna said that there were problems even if elections were held through ballot paper. We know what was the situation when voting was done through ballot paper? Booths were being captured. You might have forgotten those circumstances, but we remember everything. Apart from this, Judge Dipankar Dutta asked what is the population of Germany? Prashant Bhushan said, it is around five crores. There are about 60 crore voters in our country. The population of my home state West Bengal is more than that of Germany. However, Justice Khanna said, there are 97 crore registered voters in India. The European example will not work here. We have to trust someone. Don't try to break the system like this.
Another lawyer Sanjay Hegde demanded that 100 percent of the votes recorded in EVMs should be from VVPAT slips. On this, Judge Sanjeev Khanna asked, do you want 60 crore VVPAT tickets to be counted? Advocate Gopal Shankar Narayan, appearing for the Election Commission, said that it may take 12 days to count all the VVPAT tickets.
How VVPAT works: Supreme
The Supreme Court questioned the Election Commission as to how VVPAT works. The Election Commission said that at the polling station, there is another machine attached to the EVM machine and there is a transparent box with it. It is called VVPAT, which stands for Water-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail. When voters cast their vote through EVM, a slip comes out from the VVPAT and falls into the box. On this ticket, the election symbol of the party for which the voter has voted is recorded. VVPAT ticket enables voters to see that the vote has been cast correctly and for the candidate they support. If any voter has any doubt, he can complain to the officer and check the ticket and ensure whether it has gone to the party for which he has voted or not.
Prashant Bhushan's arguments
, European countries, including Germany, abandoned EVMs and reverted to paper ballots.
, Hundred percent EVM votes and VVPAT tickets should be collected.
, Unbelievable because EVMs are manufactured by government companies.
-Country The voters do not trust EVMs. A survey was conducted.
Supreme Court questions
, Considering the population, the example of Germany-Europe will not work here.
, It takes 12 days to get all the VVPAT tickets for the country's 97 crore voters.
, Will you be happy if private companies make EVMs?
, Where did the voter distrust data come from? Private survey cannot be considered.
