Supreme Court warns panel against making excuses

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Election Commission on its reluctance to use voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units with electronic voting machines for the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2017, warning the poll panel against making excuses and compelling the court to force its hand.

“You have about 87,000 machines. Why cannot you use them,” a Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and D.Y. Chandrachud asked the commission.

When counsel of the panel replied that not all the 87,000 are functional and some have “glitches”, Justice Khehar said the argument sounded like an excuse. “Don’t force us … we can enforce our orders,” the Chief Justice warned, asking the commission to give a reply in four weeks.

Appeal against HC order

The hearing was based on a petition filed by Mohit Singh, represented by counsel Kapil Sibal, appealing against a Gujarat High Court order dismissing his plea to direct the commission to implement the VVPAT voting mechanism in the Gujarat polls or otherwise use ballot papers to ensure a transparent, free and fair election.

2013 judgment

“The Centre has given the Election Commission ₹3,000 crore to buy 1,50,000 machines … but now they are saying it will take time to train people. Such excuses cannot be made in a democracy. In Gujarat polls, 71,000 machines are required for the election,” Mr. Sibal said.

He referred to the Supreme Court’s 2013 judgment in Subramanian Swamy vs Election Commission of India, in which the court held that the “paper trail is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of the voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the “paper trail”. EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system.”

Call on re-count

The execution of the VVPAT concept would result in printed receipts of what party the EVM machine has registered a vote for. The said printed receipts would then ideally be collected by the voters and subsequently dropped in a ballot box.

Therefore, the votes registered in the EVM may then be tallied with the ballot papers collected in the ballot box, thus, allowing the commission to ascertain whether a recount is required or not. Such printed receipts ensure that the voting is carried out in a more transparent fashion and further inspiring confidence in the election process.