Random checking of VVPAT slips increased from 1 to 5 per constituency, Supreme Court orders ECI

April 8: A few days before Lok Sabha Elections would kick off,the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Election Commission to increase the cross-examination of slips from VVPATs of five EVMs in every constituency instead of one in the Lok Sabha election 2019. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi increased the number of EVM-VVPATs subjected to physical verification in order to “ensure the greatest degree of accuracy, satisfaction in election process.”

After votes are cast, the polling station where VVPAT slips are matched with vote machine results is decided by a draw of lots in the presence of candidates. Today’s Supreme Court order means that five polling stations, instead of one, will be picked for the random matching of slips.

After hearing senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi, appearing for 21 opposition parties led by N Chandrababu Naidu and others and the Election Commission official and the counsel, a bench presided over by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said if the number of EVM in respect to physical verification was increased from one to five, it would neither required additional manpower nor would delay the poll results.
Many opposition parties claim that EVMs are susceptible to tampering and initially wanted that the government go back to use of paper ballots. After the Election Commission ruled it out, opposition parties demanded that at least 50% votes be verified.