What is the EVM-VVPAT verification issue before the Supreme Court? | Explained

We explore the current case underway in the Supreme Court about verifying all EVM votes against VVPATs in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections

The story so far: The Supreme Court on April 18 reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions seeking directions to tally Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the elections. Asserting that voters have the fundamental right to feel confident about the electoral process, the petitioners have voiced their apprehensions about the possibility of EVMs malfunctioning or being tampered with to register votes in favour of a party.

However, a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed during the proceedings that EVMs give “absolutely accurate results” unless human bias maligns them and further pointed out that an increased voter turnout over the years indicates that the people have faith in the system.

The proceedings in the case and the expected verdict are of immense significance with the Lok Sabha elections currently underway.

Also read: A look inside the electronic voting machine

A VVPAT machine is attached to the ballot unit of the EVM and prints out a slip of paper with the voter’s choice indicated on it as soon as a vote is cast. The printed slip is visible for seven seconds for the voter to verify if their vote was cast correctly before it falls into a compartment kept underneath. Instead of being handed over to the voters, VVPAT slips are used later by the polling officials to to verify votes cast in five randomly selected polling booths.

The idea of VVPAT machines was first proposed in 2010 following a meeting held by the Election Commission of India (ECI) with political parties to discuss the reforms needed to increase transparency in the polling process. After the consultation, the proposal was referred to the ECI’s Technical Expert Committee. The final design of the VVPAT was approved by the committee in February 2013 following field trials conducted in regions like Ladakh, Thiruvananthapuram, Cherrapunjee, East Delhi and Jaisalmer.

Subsequently, the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 were amended in 2013 to allow VVPAT machines, piloted that year in the by-election for the Noksen assembly seat in Nagaland. After that, the ECI decided to introduce VVPATs in a phased manner with the 2019 General Elections being the first where EVMs were 100% backed by the VVPAT machines.