EC rejects Opposition's demand for tallying VVPAT slips with EVM

The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the Opposition demand that VVPAT slips be matched with EVM data first before counting of votes in a constituency when votes will be counted in the general elections tomorrow.

The Election Commission said there would be no change in the procedure of matching Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips.

The decision was taken a day after the leaders of 22 Opposition parties met the Election Commission and demanded verification of VVPAT slips of randomly-selected polling stations before the counting begins of the votes polled in the just-concluded elections.

The delegation included the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Opposition had also demanded that in case of any discrepancy during VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of the paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that particular Assembly segment be compared with the electronic voting machine (EVM) results.

The current provisions say five randomly-selected EVMs will be verified in each assembly segment with the VVPAT slips.

"If any discrepancy is found in the tally, then VVPAT for the whole assembly segment should be counted. We do not know what is the problem of the Election Commission? Former Chief Election Commissioner has also endorsed our demand. Former President (Pranab Mukherjee) also made it very clear that EC should keep transparency and create confidence among Indian voters," Naidu had said after the meeting on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court had also earlier rejected Opposition's plea demanding at least 50 per cent VVPAT verification saying it is "not inclined to interfere".

Counting of votes for Lok Sabha election 2019 will begin at 8 am on May 23. The results are already expected to be delayed due to tallying of VVPATs with EVM count for the first time.