Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 3
The Supreme Court will take up next week 21 Opposition leaders’ petition seeking further increase in matching of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips with EVM results for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
The Opposition leaders wanted the top court to review its order increasing the random matching of VVPAT slips with EVM results from one Assembly segment in each parliamentary constituency to only five.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on April 8 asked the Election Commission to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVM results but rejected the demand for tallying of at least 50 per cent of VVPAT slips with EVM outcomes in every Assembly segment.
On Friday, the review petition was mentioned by senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi for urgent hearing before the CJI’s Bench which agreed to take it up next week.
Led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, 21 Opposition leaders on April 24 moved the top court seeking review of its order, saying the “increase from 1 to 5 is not a reasonable number and does not lead to satisfaction desired by this court”.
“The petitioners submit that the aforesaid increase to a mere 2 per cent is not sufficient and will not make any substantial difference to the situation that existed prior to the passing of the impugned order.
“We are of the view that if the number of EVMs in respect to VVPAT is subjected to physical scrutiny be increased from one to five per assembly segment...There will be greater satisfaction not only to the political parties but also to the voters,” the Bench had said.
What they want
Opposition leaders are of view that the 2 per cent increase in random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs would not achieve the purpose of raising “public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process”. They are demanding for tallying of at least 50 per cent of VVPAT slips with EVM outcomes in every Assembly segment.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2PMKzdX
via Today’s News Headlines
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