India’s Supreme Court on Friday refused to order any changes to the vote counting process in the ongoing national elections amid allegations of tampering with electronic voting machines (EVM).
The Supreme Court rejected petitions demanding a return to the ballot system or the counting of all slips of paper created as proof of voting with votes recorded by electronic machines.
The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, or VVPAT, creates a visible paper slip that the voter can see through a transparent screen for about seven seconds before it is stored in a locked delivery box. India has been using EVMs since 2004.
Nearly a billion Indians are eligible to cast their votes in the world’s largest election to determine whether Narendra Modi should remain prime minister for a third consecutive term.
The second phase of voting began on Friday, with 166 million voters eligible to elect 88 out of 543 members of Parliament’s lower house, the Lok Sabha.
“Blind discussion of any aspect of the system can create unwarranted suspicions and hamper progress,” said Justice Dipankar Datta, dismissing a batch of petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of votes cast in electronic voting machines using paper auditing. “.
“Instead, a critical and constructive approach guided by evidence and reason must be taken to make room for meaningful improvements and to ensure the credibility of the system.”
Currently, the poll body counts and reconciles VVPAT paper slips at five randomly selected polling stations in each State Legislative Assembly constituency, several of which are merged to form a single parliamentary seat.
For the ongoing national elections, which began on April 19, more than one million polling stations and five million voting machines are in use. The votes will be counted and the results announced on June 4.
But the court issued additional directions to seal and store the machines after the vote. The token upload and storage unit must be closed for at least 45 days, she said.
Democracy “is about maintaining harmony and trust among its pillars,” the bench said.
The court had previously said that it could not “control the elections.”
Many political parties, election watchdogs and critics of the current regime have long demanded that VVPAT verification be conducted in more booths to increase transparency. The Modi government and the Election Commission have resisted these calls.
