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Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Will all VVPAT slips be counted along with EVMs for Lok Sabha election results? A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court regarding this demand. On which the court has sought answers from the Election Commission and the Central Government. At present the rule is to verify only 5 randomly selected EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) through VVPAT slips.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta considered the arguments of lawyers representing social activist Arun Kumar Aggarwal, who had sought counting of all VVPAT slips in the election. The bench has issued notice to the Election Commission and the Central Government on the petition. The next hearing in this case can be held on May 17.
The petition states that the government has spent approximately Rs 5,000 crore on the purchase of approximately 24 lakh VVPATs but currently only 20,000 VVPAT slips have been verified.
The Congress, on the other hand, described the Supreme Court's notice to the Election Commission and the Center as a 'first important step' and said a decision on the issue should be taken before the start of voting for the Lok Sabha.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on 'X', 'The Supreme Court has today sent a notice to the Election Commission on the VVPAT issue. It has been repeatedly reported that the Commission has refused to meet the delegation of leaders of parties associated with the 'India' alliance demanding 100% VVPAT to enhance public confidence in EVMs and ensure integrity of the election process .
'Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail' (VVPAT) is an independent vote verification system, which allows voters to see that their vote has gone to the candidate for whom they voted. The VVPAT machine issues a paper slip which can be seen by the voter and this slip is kept in a sealed box and can be opened in case of dispute.