The Aryavarth Express
Agency(New Delhi): The Election Commission of India (ECI) has provided assurances to the Supreme Court that discrepancies between Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) results and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips are non-existent. In its formal response to the Supreme Court’s inquiries from April 16, the ECI confirmed that after matching EVM outcomes with over 4 crore VVPAT slips, no errors have been detected.
During a recent session, Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta heard multiple petitions that demanded a comprehensive check of EVM data against VVPAT slips, subsequently reserving their judgment.
The issues addressed included the storage and integrity of EVM components, the process of symbol loading on VVPATs, the involvement of political parties in EVM deployment, and the security measures preventing tampering post-election. The ECI detailed that VVPATs, functioning solely as printers, accept only specific image files during symbol loading, precluding the addition of any software or unauthorized data.
Additionally, it was clarified that polling officers cannot access EVM results during election day, and the potential for EVM tampering after polling is strictly prohibited. The stringent protocols include sealing the EVMs and maintaining a comprehensive log of the voting process, which is verified against the VVPAT slips during the count.
The ECI also responded to concerns about the duration required to count VVPAT slips, attributing the time to the meticulous verification process necessary to ensure electoral integrity. They emphasized that the counting environment is highly regulated to prevent any discrepancies.