With 5 phases of elections already being conducted, Supreme Court finally dismissed the petition of 21 opposition parties for verification of the 50% of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in every assembly segment. The opposition leaders had filed the review petition after the Supreme Court, on April 8, ordered the Election Commission to increase the physical counting of VVPAT slips to five random EVMs in each assembly constituency.
The bench, which was headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said, “We are not inclined to hear this. [For] how many days will we hear the same matter,” On the Supreme Court’s decision, one of the petitioners, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the counsel petitioner has submitted that they were willing to settle for at least 33% verification. Moreover, the range that the petitioner provided was from 5%to 50%. Other petitioners like NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that the petition carried the intention of conducting a free and fair election.
The Election Commission had earlier argued that matching the VVPAT slips would delay the announcement of election results by at least six days. Meanwhile, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, arrived in Delhi to attend the hearing in the apex court in connection with the VVPAT review petition case. Speaking to Times Now, he said, “We have come here for justice. We seek greater transparency in the election process.” He further added, “Increase from 1 to 5 is not a reasonable number and does not lead to satisfaction desired by this court”
The opposition might provide ‘ethical reasons’ behind the petition, but it is also known that any problem that might surface would be blamed on the central government. In the previous phases conducted, opposition has blamed that the votes of the EVM are going directly adding to BJP’s tally. The Supreme Court, through its decision, has kept intact the integrity of the Election Commission as well. The opposition has constantly accused the EC for favouring the BJP. The rechecking of VVPAT would directly question the credibility of the Election Commission and transparency of the election process.
The process of checking 50% of the VVPATs would further delay the mammoth task of conducting elections. This point was very well argued by the Election Commission. However, the opposition, which clearly doesn’t wish to give thought to the intricacies, did not ponder on the argument. The sheer pressure on the review petition by the opposition shows that they are determined to further delay the long process of elections in India. In the past, members of one of the petitioning parties, the Congress Party, had alleged that there was a glitch in the technology used by EVMs which have now existed for more than a decade. With the country reaching closer to the dates of counting, the opposition also on its full swing is trying to create hurdles in the electoral process.