Why Supreme Court rejected pleas seeking 100% EVM-VVPAT verification

EVMs in India have once again got a clean chit. And this time, the Supreme Court has given this clean chit. The apex court has rejected all the petitions seeking three main demands. The first demand was that elections in the country should not be held through EVMs, but through ballot paper. The second demand was – 100 per cent cross checking of VVPAT slips from EVMs. The third demand was – after voting, instead of falling directly into the box, the VVPAT slip should come into the hands of the voter and then he should put it in the box himself. 

The bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta while explaining its verdict said:

• It is not right to blindly doubt any system.
• Democracy itself means maintaining trust and harmony.
• The court’s stance on this matter has been based on evidence.

The issue of EVM has also become an issue of electoral politics in the country. EVM has been the target of opposition for the last 15 years. Whichever party loses the elections, blames it on EVMs. When EVMs were introduced in India, every political party welcomed the decision to conduct elections using EVMs. But when the political parties who hold EVMs responsible for their defeat are given the challenge to prove rigging in EVMs, they fail to do so.

The Supreme Court must have also realized this. That is why while giving a clean chit to EVM, the Supreme Court has expressed doubt on the intentions of those raising questions on EVM. We hope that after the Supreme Court gives a clean chit to EVMs, the opposition parties will stop blaming EVMs for their defeat.

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