"We Know What Happened...": Supreme Court Flags Ballot Voting Drawbacks

Hearing petitions seeking cross-verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with papers slips generated through the VVPAT system, the Supreme Court today pointed to problems with the secret ballot voting method.

"We are in our 60s. We all know what happened when there were ballot papers, you may have, but we have not forgotten," Justice Sanjiv Khanna told Prashant Bhushan, counsel for one of the petitioners, Association for Democratic Reforms. Mr Bhushan was arguing how most European countries that had opted for voting through EVMs have returned to the paper ballots.

"We can go back to paper ballots. Another option is to give VVPAT slip to the voters in hand. Otherwise, the slips falls into the machine and the slip can be then given to the voter and it can be put into the ballot box. Then the VVPAT design was changed, it had to be transparent glass, but it was changed to dark opaque mirror glass where it is only visible when the light is on for 7 seconds," he said.

When Mr Bhushan cited Germany's example, Justice Dipankar Datta asked what's Germany's population. Mr Bhushan replied that it around 6 crore, while India as 50-60 crore voters.

"Ninety-seven crore is the total number of registered voters. We all know what happened when there were ballot papers," Justice Khanna said.

When Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, counsel for one of the petitioners, said votes cast on EVMs should be tallied with VVPAT slips, Justice Khanna replied, "Yes, 60 crore VVPAT slips should be counted. Right?"

The judge said human interventions "lead to problems and human weakness can be there, which includes biases as well". "Machine normally without human intervention will give you accurate results. Yes, the problem arises when there is human intervention or makes unauthorised changes when they are around the software or machine, if you have any suggestion to avert this, then you can give us that," he said.

Mr Bhushan then read out a research paper on the possibility of EVMs being tampered. "They are only counting 5 vvpat machines per assembly when there are 200 such machines, this is 5 per cent only and there can be no justification in this. The seven-second light can also lead to manipulation. The voter can be allowed to take the VVPAT slip and put it into the ballot box," he said.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said, "I adopt everything that Mr Bhushan says. We are not saying that there is any malice. Only issue is that of the confidence of the voter in the vote he has cast."

What Is VVPAT and What Is The Case

The VVPAT -- Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail -- enables a voter to see if the vote was cast properly and went to the candidate he/she supports. The VVPAT generates a paper slip that is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened if there is a dispute. Amid the Opposition's questions and apprehensions regarding the EVM system of voting, the petitions call for cross-verification of every vote.

The petitions have been filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and activist Arun Kumar Agarwal. Mr Agarwal has sought the counting of all VVPAT slips. The ADR's petition seeks the court's direction to the Election Commission and the Centre to ensure that voters are able to verify through VVPATs that their vote has been "counted as recorded". The petition says that the requirement of voters verifying that their votes have been "recorded as cast" is somewhat met when the VVPAT slip is displayed for about seven seconds after pressing the button on the EVM through a transparent window.

"However, there is a complete vacuum in law as the ECI has provided no procedure for the voter to verify that her vote has been 'counted as recorded' which is an indispensable part of voter verifiability. The failure of the ECI to provide for the same is in the teeth of purport and object of the directions issued by this Court in... Subramanian Swamy versus Election Commission of India (2013 verdict)," the plea said.