Posted by New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict today on a batch of pleas seeking 100 percent verification of the votes recorded in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips.
Apex court summoned ECI officials on Wednesday to seek certain clarifications
A bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta will pronounce the verdict.
The bench had on Wednesday summoned the officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking clarifications on five questions related to the functioning of EVMs and had reserved the verdict after the ECI official answered the queries raised by the top court.
The apex court bench sought clarifications from the poll body on whether microcontroller is installed in controlling unit or in the VVPAT, whether the microcontrollers fitted in them are reprogrammable, how many symbol loading units are available with the ECI and queries regarding storage of EVMs for 45 days and clarification on storage and securing of EVMs.
The bench had made it clear that it was not rehearing the matter on merits and it needed certain clarifications on certain aspects as it did not want to be factually wrong but doubly sure in its findings.
Cannot control elections or issue directions simply because some doubts have been raised about efficacy of EVMS: Apex court
The bench had on Wednesday said that it is not the controlling authority of another constitutional authority and it cannot control the elections or issue directions simply because some doubts have been raised about the efficacy of EVMS. It had further said that it cannot change the thought process of those doubting the advantages of EVMs and advocating going back to ballot papers and it will see what is needed and what can be done to strengthen the current system of voting using the EVMs.
Apex court reserved its verdict on April 18
The apex court had reserved its verdict earlier on April 18 after hearing the submissions from the ECI and petitioners, who have claimed that the EVMs can be tinkered with to manipulate the results and advocated for reverting to old system of ballot papers citing examples of some European countries, for nearly two days.