SC rejects Cong plea to verify paper trail

VVPAT MACHINES, CONNECTED WITH EVMS, DISPENSE PAPER PROOF TO ENABLE A VOTER TO CROSSCHECK IF HIS OR HER VOTE WAS CAST CORRECTLY.

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday declined a state Congress leader’s plea for a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to match the paper trail of votes (VVPAT) with EVM results in 25% of the polling booths in Gujarat.

The order comes days before counting in the just concluded Gujarat Assembly elections begins on December 18.

A bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said it could not replace the poll panel’s decision with its own “unless some illegality was pointed out.”

“We can’t substitute the decision of the Election Commission unless you demonstrate that the poll panel’s decision is either arbitrary or not in accordance with the law,” it said.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on behalf of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Mohammed Arif Rajput and told the bench that the poll panel itself took a decision to match VVPAT with EVM results in one booth per constituency as it had certain apprehensions about the authenticity of EVMS.

“We only want the court to make it 25% or 20% or even 15% will do. It will only lend credence to the entire electoral process,” he said. Court could exercise its jurisdiction since the election was over, he said in an attempt to convince the bench.

But the court disagreed with him and said the election process began with the notification and would end with the declaration of results.“if a candidate is aggrieved, he or she is entitled to avail a legal remedy to seek matching of EVM result ...” the bench said.