No increase in VVPAT-EVM verification, rules Supreme Court after rejecting Opposition's plea
EVM-VVPAT
Supreme Court today rejected a review plea filed by Opposition parties seeking direction to increase VVPAT verification from five to at least 50 per cent of EVMs during the counting of votes which is dueto take place on May 23rd afterthe end of the seventh phase ofgeneral elections.
Several Opposition parties, numbering 21in all had filed the petition.
"We are not inclined to modify our order, the Supreme Court said while dismissing review plea on the random matching of VVPAT slips.
The apex court had on April 8th directed the Election Commission(EC) to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs in five polling booths per assembly segment from one booth.
Opposition leaders led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had sought the review of the top court's order, asserting that the "increase from 1 to 5 is not a reasonable number and does not lead to satisfaction desired by this court".
However, in its affidavit, the EC had told India's top court that the Opposition leaders have been unable to raise any ground for altering the existing system of random counting of VVPAT slips from one polling booth per assembly segment, which was "found to be most suitable" after due studies and tests.
The leaders from six national and 15 regional parties, claiming to represent 70-75 per cent of the population, had also sought the setting aside of the EC guideline on random verification of one assembly seat.