'The confidence of the voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the 'paper trail'. EVMs with VVPAT system ensure accuracy of the voting system,' Association for Democratic Reforms said.

A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the counting of all VVPATS in the coming state elections was listed for hearing in the Supreme Court before a single judge Bench Justice M.R. Shah.

Filed by an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, the PIL sought directions to the Election Commission of India to put in place the necessary infrastructure on a pilot basis to ensure that voters can verify that their vote has been ‘recorded as cast’ and ‘counted as recorded’. The matter was adjourned as senior counsel Dushyant Dave was not available.

The PIL said that a “paper trail” is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections and that the ECI should be directed to count all VVPAT slips in the coming assembly elections. “The confidence of the voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the ‘paper trail’. EVMs with VVPAT system ensure accuracy of the voting system.”

While the requirement of whether the vote has been recorded as cast is met by the VVPAT slip being on display for about seven seconds, there is a vacuum so far as the “vote has been counted as recorded” is concerned. Besides, if there is a discrepancy the onus is on the voter to prove she is right, the PIL said.

Interestingly, a proposal for counting VVPAT slips using currency-counting machines has been with the Election Commission of India. A former CEC says, “All VVPAT slips can be counted in a matter of seconds if they decide to use currency counting machines. These machines can be reprogrammed or the paper size can be enlarged to fit the machine. The technology is available. All that is required is the will.”

A former civil servant and a member of the Citizens Commission on Elections says, “In Germany, they went back to the paper ballot system because the EVM/VVPAT method was found to be ‘unconstitutional’ by their Supreme Court.”

Subhashish Banerjee, a computer science expert, says, “There is no statistical basis for counting the votes from five assembly constituencies as is the case just now. If a proper statistical audit is to be done then all votes should be counted. This is something expert studies from the University of Berkeley too have suggested,” he adds.

Experts say the counting of VVPAT slips from five polling stations in each assembly segment is done at the end of the counting process instead of at the beginning. And the person who loses has little incentive to check if the slips match. The PIL too gives an instance of a mismatch detected in votes polled at the Mydukur assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh during the 2019 general elections.

Quoting from the CCE report, the PIL says, “The ECI refuses to cross-check the tally of counting VVPAT paper slips with electronic results on the grounds of being unnecessary and time-consuming.”

In 2019, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi dismissed a review plea filed by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and 21 other parties seeking counting of at least 50% of VVPAT slips. The review was filed following the court order that the counting of VVPAT slips be increased from one to five polling booths in one assembly constituency.