SC's EVM order: Former CECs say 100% cross-verification not needed

Former chief election commissioners Friday welcomed the Supreme Court order rejecting pleas to go back to the ballot system and hold complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with paper trail machines, and said the present system of matching results was sufficient.

Delivering its verdict on a clutch of petitions, the top court said persistent doubts and despair in EVMs create distrust in the electoral process and reduce citizen participation.

Former CEC O P Rawat welcomed the apex court verdict and pointed out that the Election Commission (EC) had approached the Indian Statistical Institute in 2017, seeking answers on a sample of VVPAT-EVM cross-verification to ensure 99.99 per cent voter confidence level.

The ISI said a sample of 479 VVPAT count out of 10 lakh polling stations will be good enough for 99.99 per cent confidence, he told PTI.

The EC decided that one polling station in every assembly segment would be identified for EVM-VVPAT match. "The figure came to 4,300," he said.

When some opposition parties approached the Supreme Court, it increased it to five polling stations per assembly segment and the figure came to 21,000.

"Instead of 479, we are counting (VVPAT slips in) 21,000 polling stations. So, it is a huge improvement already," Rawat said, adding that as per statistics, any further increase would not help achieve a confidence level beyond 99.99 per cent.

Another former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswamy said if a person cooks rice, then a few grains are checked and not the entire quantity cooked.

Echoing Rawat's view, he said if one VVPAT count is enough statistically, then five VVPAT counts make it 500 per cent.

"If you win, EVM is blameless, if you lose, EVM is the reason," he told PTI.

Another former CEC, who refused to go on record, said courts have rejected pleas against EVMs on several occasions.

He recalled that at least 60 opposition leaders had met the commission just days before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, seeking a 100 per cent VVPAT count.

But the EC took a considered decision after holding internal deliberations and turned down the plea.