Former CECs say SC direction on VVPAT count will help improve voters' confidence

Former chief election commissioners Monday welcomed Supreme Court's direction to the EC to increase the matching of paper trail machine slips with EVM results, saying it will boost the confidence of people in the electoral process.

Former CEC V S Sampath told PTI that the ruling is a "good solution". "The Supreme Court has put an end to the controversy once and for all," he told PTI.

He said matching of EVM results with slips from paper trail machines was feasible and it would not delay the results.

Another former head of the poll panel, Nasim Zaidi said that in 2017, the commission had suggested tallying results in five to seven per cent constituencies. "We had also given a sample size," he said.

He described the ruling as "very, very good", saying it will improve the satisfaction of the people. "It was the Supreme Court which had ordered the use of VVPAT machines. Now it has given the matching a five-time jump. It is good for perception of the people," Zaidi said.

He said the EVMs cannot be tampered with and the top court's direction will bring added satisfaction and confidence among the people.

Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi also welcomed the order. "It is a very good decision. There was a need for people's faith in the system and now I think the order of the apex court will put the matter to rest," he said.

On the ECI's submission before the apex court that the tallying would delay the vote-counting and cause "insurmountable difficulty" in the election process, Quraishi said five teams can be set up and counting can be done faster.

"Five teams can be set up and can do the work faster. The approach should be solution oriented and it should not be made into a prestige issue by the ECI," he told the reporters on the sidelines of an event.

"In those times, ballot papers used to be of newspaper size, 20-50 candidates in fray and on every ballot they used to fight but now the slip of VVPAT is of 3/3 inches and it can be counted easily," he said.

The apex court on Monday directed the Election Commission to increase the random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs from one booth per assembly segment to five in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls for better voter confidence and credibility of electoral process.

The order came on a plea filed by 21 opposition parties that had sought a direction to the poll panel to randomly verify at least 50 per cent of electronic voting machines using voter-verifiable paper audit trail slips in the assembly and general elections beginning April 11.

After votes are cast, the polling station where VVPAT slips are matched with EVM results is decided by a draw of lots or lottery system in the presence of the candidates.

VVPAT machine is a device which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted.

The slip appears on a small window for seven seconds and then drops in a box. The voter cannot take it home.

Nearly 39.6 lakh EVMs and 17.4 lakh voter verifiable paper trail machines (VVPAT) would be used in these polls.