Posted by New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday, while reserving its verdict on pleas seeking 100 percent verification of the votes recorded in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, said that it is not the controlling authority of another constitutional authority and it cannot control the elections.
Will see what is needed and what can be done to strengthen current system of voting using EVMs: Apex Court
A bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta, while rejecting the idea of reverting back to old system of ballot papers, said that it will see what is needed and what can be done to strengthen the current system of voting using the Electronic Voting machines (EVMs).
Petitioners raised suspicion of hacking and manipulation of EVMs
The bench told this to petitioners who raised suspicions of hacking and manipulation of EVMs while hearing clarifications on certain questions posed by it from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The bench asked whether it can issue directions merely on the basis of suspicion of hacking and manipulation of EVMs when there is no concrete proof.
“Can we issue a mandamus on the basis of a suspicion? The report you are relying on says that there is no incident of hacking yet…. we are not the controlling authority of another constitutional authority…..we cannot control the elections,” the bench said.
Apex court wanted certain clarifications and matter was listed for directions on Wednesday
The matter was listed for directions on Wednesday before the bench, which posed several queries to the ECI earlier during the day regarding the functioning of the EVMs and summoned the ECI official to clarify on these queries during the post-lunch session.
The bench made it clear that the court was not rehearing the matter on merits and it wanted certain clarifications. It said that it needed clarification on certain aspects as there was some confusion over the answers given by the ECI to ‘frequently asked questions’ (FAQs) about EVMs and did not want to be factually wrong but doubly sure in its findings.
“We went through the FAQs. We just wanted some clarifications. We have some doubts and need clarification and that’s why we have listed the matter for directions. We don’t want to be factually wrong but doubly sure in our findings,” the apex court bench said
The top court bench sought clarifications from the ECI on whether microcontroller is installed in controlling unit or in the VVPAT, whether the microcontroller is one-time programmable, how many symbol loading units are available with the ECI, regarding storage of EVMs for 45 days and clarification on storage and securing of EVMs.
The apex court had earlier on April 18 reserved its verdict after hearing submissions from the petitioners and ECI.