New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea raising the issue of matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with voters using electronic voting machines (EVMs).
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta told the petitioner's counsel that a coordinate bench of the apex court had given its verdict on the issue last week.
Refusing to consider the petition, the bench said, "A coordination bench has already considered it."
When the petitioner's counsel said the issue was one of transparency and the app court had already suggested some safeguards, the bench said, "Another bench has already passed an order two days ago."
On April 26, the apex court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutt had rejected petitions seeking full cross-verification of votes cast in EVMs with VVPAT, an independent vote verification system that allows voters to verify their identity. This enables them to see whether their votes have been recorded correctly or not.
The bench rejected the demand for bringing back the old paper ballot system, terming the suspicion of EVM rigging as "baseless" and said the voting equipment is "safe" and eliminates booth capturing and fraudulent voting.
However, the top court had opened a window for the dissident candidates who secured second and third positions in the election results and allowed them to get the verification of micro-controller chips fitted in five per cent of the EVMs per assembly constituency on written request for payment . Payment of fees to the voting panel.
It had directed that from May 1, the election symbol loading units should be securely sealed in a container and stored in a strongroom along with the EVMs for a minimum period of 45 days after the declaration of results. .
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta told the petitioner's counsel that a coordinate bench of the apex court had given its verdict on the issue last week.
Refusing to consider the petition, the bench said, "A coordination bench has already considered it."
When the petitioner's counsel said the issue was one of transparency and the app court had already suggested some safeguards, the bench said, "Another bench has already passed an order two days ago."
On April 26, the apex court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutt had rejected petitions seeking full cross-verification of votes cast in EVMs with VVPAT, an independent vote verification system that allows voters to verify their identity. This enables them to see whether their votes have been recorded correctly or not.
The bench rejected the demand for bringing back the old paper ballot system, terming the suspicion of EVM rigging as "baseless" and said the voting equipment is "safe" and eliminates booth capturing and fraudulent voting.
However, the top court had opened a window for the dissident candidates who secured second and third positions in the election results and allowed them to get the verification of micro-controller chips fitted in five per cent of the EVMs per assembly constituency on written request for payment . Payment of fees to the voting panel.
It had directed that from May 1, the election symbol loading units should be securely sealed in a container and stored in a strongroom along with the EVMs for a minimum period of 45 days after the declaration of results. .
