VVPAT case: SC gives EC time till tomorrow to file affidavit

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Election Commission's plea seeking time till Friday to file an affidavit on the court's query why physical check of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) should not be extended to more than one polling station per Assembly segment in a Lok Sabha seat.

On Monday, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justice Deepak Gupta, had said that it is in favour of increasing the random physical verification of more VVPATs in Assembly constituencies or segments in parliamentary constituencies.

The court had directed the Commission to file by today an affidavit on why physical verification of VVPATs should not be extended to more than one polling station per Assembly segment.

The matter had been posted for hearing to April 1.

"No institution including the judiciary should insulate itself from suggestions or improvements," the bench had said.

It was hearing a plea filed by 21 opposition leaders led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, seeking a random count of VVPAT slips of at least 50 per cent EVMs in each Assembly constituency before the declaration of Lok Sabha election results.

The petition has also challenged the decision of the Commission to check VVPATs of only one randomly selected booth of a constituency.

The petitioners have said that this will account only for 0.44 per cent of the votes polled.

This guideline defeats the entire purpose of the VVPAT and makes the same "ornamental" without actual substance, they have said.

The plea was coordinated by Naidu who was joined by several other leaders including Sharad Pawar NCP), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Sharad Yadav (LJD), Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), Derek O'Brien (TMC), MK Stalin (DMK) and Farooq Abdullah (NC).