Supreme Court dismisses all petitions seeking 100 pc verification of VVPAT slips during polls

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with paper slips generated through the VVPAT method. The apex court also rejected the prayers of petitioners for a return to ballot paper voting.

A two-judge bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta delivered a unanimous verdict. The Supreme Court said it’s has given two directions — one direction is after the completion of symbol loading process, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) should be sealed and they should be stored at least for a period of 45 days.

The second direction issued by the apex court is there will be an option for candidates to get the microcontroller programme of EVMs to be checked by a team of engineers after the declaration of results, and such a request to be made by the candidate within seven days after the declaration of results. (ANI)