In a hearing concerning petitions advocating for the cross-verification of votes with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), the Supreme Court acknowledged challenges associated with reverting to paper ballots for general elections.
During the proceedings, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), proposed three suggestions to enhance voting transparency, including a return to paper ballots. The other options involved making the VVPAT glass transparent or providing voters with the VVPAT slip for insertion into the ballot box.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna responded to Bhushan’s proposal, expressing reservations based on past experiences with paper ballots, indicating a preference for electronic voting methods.
The ADR, among the petitioners, urged the court to direct the Election Commission and the Union government to ensure voters can verify that their votes have been accurately recorded through VVPATs. The plea emphasized the importance of voters being able to verify that their votes have been “counted as recorded,” as mandated by the Supreme Court’s 2013 verdict in the Subramanian Swamy versus Election Commission of India case.
The plea underscored the absence of a procedure for voters to verify that their votes have been “counted as recorded,” highlighting a gap in the law despite the VVPAT slip being displayed for approximately seven seconds after pressing the EVM button.
