Granting Voters Physical Access to VVPAT Slips Raises Practical and Security Concerns: Supreme Court

Giving physical access to VVPAT slips to voters is problematic and impractical and will lead to misuse, malpractices and disputes, the Supreme Court on Friday said while rejecting pleas seeking 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips by voters.

Giving physical access to VVPAT slips to voters is problematic and impractical and will lead to misuse, malpractices and disputes, the Supreme Court on Friday said while rejecting pleas seeking 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips by voters. It also rejected the plea that sought right to the voter to physically verify the printed slip from the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine and put it in the ballot box for counting. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said while the court acknowledges the fundamental right of voters to ensure their vote is accurately recorded and counted, the same cannot be equated with the right to 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips, or a right to physical access to the VVPAT slips. ''These are two separate aspects – the former is the right itself and the latter is a plea to protect or how to secure the right. The voters' right can be protected and safeguarded by adopting several measures,'' it said. The bench said giving physical access to VVPAT slips to voters is ''problematic and impractical.'' ''It will lead to misuse, malpractices and disputes. This is not a case where fundamental right to franchise exists only as a parchment, rather, the entire electoral process protocol, and the checks as well as empirical data, ensure its meaningful exercise,'' it said. On increasing the counting of VVPAT slips to 100 per cent from the existing five per cent, the bench said it is not inclined to modify the earlier directions to increase the number of VVPAT undergoing slip count for several reasons. ''First, it will increase the time for counting and delay the declaration of results. The manpower required would have to be doubled. Manual counting is prone to human errors and may lead to deliberate mischief. Manual intervention in counting can also create multiple charges of manipulation of results. Further, the data and the results do not indicate any need to increase the number of VVPAT units subjected to manual counting,'' it said. The top court added that the VVPAT slip is a 9.9 cm x 5.6 cm thermal paper coated with a chemical to ensure print retention for about five years and it is very soft and sticky, which makes the counting process tedious and slow. However, it said that the voter can see the VVPAT slip through the glass window of VVPAT and this assures the voter that his vote as cast has been recorded and will be counted. The top court delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions, including the one filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, which also sought a direction to return to the paper ballot system in elections.

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