EVM VVPAT case: Supreme Court rejects pleas seeking 100% cross verification

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday rejected petitions seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta delivered two concurring verdicts in the matter. Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Khanna said the court has rejected all the petitions, including those seeking resorting back to ballot papers in elections.
The court allowed verification of the microcontroller of EVMs by the manufacturer after poll results on request of candidates who stand second and third. The apex court also said a request for verification of the microcontroller of EVMs can be made within seven days of the declaration of election results upon payment of fees.
VVPAT-EVM case: Supreme Court issued directives: The Supreme Court also issued two directions issued – containers carrying the symbol loading unit should be sealed in the presence of polling agents and candidates and be kept secured for 45 days and the control unit, ballot unit and VVPAT shall be verified by engineers of the manufacturing companies post the result of the counting on a written request to be made within seven days of the declaration of results.