Gurdaspur bypoll: PIL in SC seeks matching EVM result with VVPAT count

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23

Ahead of the October 11 Gurudaspur Lok Sabha byelection, a petition filed in the Supreme Court has demanded that entire paper trails coming out from Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) should be counted and tallied for an authentic result.

The VVPATs are EVMs with a paper trail. When a voter presses the button to choose a candidate, a slip of paper shows the party symbol of the candidate selected for a few seconds before it goes into a sealed box.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

In case an election result is questioned, VVPAT slips can be used to double check on the results.

The petition filed by activist Sabu Stephen — a resident of Thiruvanathapuram — sought a direction to the Election Commission to compare the counts of paper trails with the result of EVM and if any difference was found, the count of paper trails should be taken as the final result.

The petition assumes significance in the wake of controversy after the recent assembly elections in five states wherein many political parties and leaders, including BSP’s Mayawati, questioned the EVM results.

Besides Gurudaspur Lok Sabha seat — which fell vacant following the death of three-time MP and actor Vinod Khanna — bypoll is also being held for the Vengara assembly seat in Kerala on October 11.

Counting of votes will take place on October 15.

Congress’s Sunil Jakhar and BJP’s Swaran Salaria filed their nomination papers on Friday for the Gurdaspur byelection.

“The plea is to enhance the trust in the minds of the citizens of India in the electoral process of the largest democratic country of this world,” the petition read.

“A voter has the right to know whether his/her vote has been recorded and counted. Today, a voter in India does not know whether his/her vote has been recorded or counted with accuracy and impartiality. There is no proof and there is no accountability”, the petitioner submitted.

“The Representation of People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, cast a duty and responsibility on the Election Commission of India for a smooth and trustworthy electoral process,” the petitioner submitted.

Deciding a PIL filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the top court had earlier directed the Centre to provide financial assistance to the poll panel for introduction of VVPAT system with EVMs to ensure “accuracy” in the voting system which could be used for manual counting of votes in case of a dispute.

“The paper trail is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with introduction of the paper trail,” the SC had said.

“EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system. With intent to have fullest transparency in the system and to restore the confidence of the voters, it is necessary to set up EVMs with VVPAT system because vote is nothing but an act of expression which has immense importance in democratic system,” it had said.