Lok Sabha 2024: The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP-led central government on Monday, responding to a petition demanding the comprehensive counting of all Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) paper slips in general elections.

Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, constituting the bench, directed notices to the ECI, acknowledging petitions filed by activist Arun Kumar Agrawal and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), according to news agency ANI.

The petition contested the commission’s guideline of sequential VVPAT verification, advocating for simultaneous verification with increased personnel deployment to expedite the process. It suggested that with more officers counting in each assembly constituency, complete VVPAT verification could be completed within 5-6 hours.

Highlighting significant expenditures, with the government having spent nearly ₹5,000 crore on purchasing approximately 24 lakh VVPATs, the petition lamented that only around 20,000 VVPAT slips are currently verified. It emphasized the importance of ensuring every VVPAT slip is counted, citing discrepancies between EVM and VVPAT vote counts in the past and the need for voters to verify their cast votes physically.

The court subsequently issued the notice, linking it with ongoing cases concerning the matter.

Meanwhile, the Congress welcomed the court’s action as a crucial initial step and urged for a prompt resolution before the commencement of Lok Sabha polls.

What is VVPAT?

The VVPAT, introduced in India during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, functions as an independent vote verification system, enabling voters to verify if their votes were accurately cast.

Integrated with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the VVPAT prints a paper slip displaying the candidate’s name and party symbol immediately after the voter casts their vote. The transparent window on the VVPAT allows voters to confirm their selection. The printed slips are then sealed within the machine.

In a previous ruling on April 8, 2019, the Supreme Court had instructed the ECI to increase the number of EVMs subjected to VVPAT physical verification from one to five per assembly segment in a parliamentary constituency.