New Delhi3 minutes ago
- Copy link
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed against the decision of the Delhi High Court. (File photo)
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking manual count of 100% VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) slips in the elections. The petitioner Hansraj Jain demanded that along with EVMs, all VVPAT slips should also have 100% manual count. Also, the voter should get the right to investigate the slip. The court said that the decision has already been given on this issue, so there is no need to hear again.
In fact, the Supreme Court heard against the Delhi High Court’s decision on 12 August 2024. In this decision, the High Court had dismissed the petition citing the old decision of the Supreme Court. During that time, the Election Commission had also told the High Court that the Supreme Court has already described EVMs as safe and transparent. This petition was heard in the Supreme Court by the bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and KV Vishwanathan.
The petitioner said- VVPAT system should be used properly Hansraj Jain also demanded the Election Commission to instruct the use of VVPAT system in future. Also said that the system should be such that the printer is open and voters can verify the printed slip themselves. Apart from this, the slip should be given to the release officer before leaving the polling station.
The Supreme Court rejected the demand for 100% matching of EVM-VVPAT
Last year, in 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions related to 100% cross-checking of electronic voting machines (EVM) and VVPAT slip in 2024. But during this time a big decision was also given. For the first time, the court opened the way to investigate EVM with certain conditions.
What condition did the Supreme Court impose for EVM investigation?
- If a candidate who comes at number two or third is suspicious, then he can complain within 7 days of the declaration of the result.
- After the complaint, the engineers of the company making EVM will investigate it.
- 5% of the Total EVM’s Total EVM’s included in any Lok Sabha constituency will be tested. These 5% EVM’s will be elected a candidate or his representative.
- The candidate will have to bear the cost of this investigation. Election Commission said- Information will be shared soon regarding the time limit and expenditure of the investigation.
- After investigation, if it is proved that the EVM is tampered with, then the complaint will be returned to the complainant.
The issue has been raised many times in the Supreme Court before Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, leaders of 21 opposition parties also demanded to match the votes of at least 50 percent of all EVMs with votes of VVPAT machines. At that time, the Election Commission used to match only one EVM with VVPAT machine in every constituency. On April 8, 2019, the number of EVMs for Milan was increased from 1 to 5.
After this, May 2019 Some technocrats had filed a petition demanding to verify all EVMs from VVPAT, which was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Apart from this, the Association for Democratic Reforms also filed a petition for matching votes in July 2023. Rejecting this, the Supreme Court had said- sometimes we start doubting the election fairness more.
**********************
Read this news too …
The Supreme Court said- what is happening in UP is wrong; Make an investigating officer stand in the dock
The Supreme Court has rebuked the UP Police on Monday. Chief Justice (CJI) Sanjeev Khanna said that what is happening in UP is wrong when the civil cases were converted into a criminal case. The Chief Justice said, every day civil cases are being converted into criminal cases. This is absurd, not just giving money cannot be made a crime, this is a completely breakdown of the rule of law. Read full news …