In a landmark ruling on April 26, the Supreme Court rejected appeals seeking the cross-verification of votes recorded in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. Instead, the Supreme Court created fresh guidelines for the management and monitoring of EVMs after elections.
New Guidelines Set by the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court issued two crucial directives:
- Sealing the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU): Once the symbol loading procedure is complete, the SLU must be sealed. It should be stored safely for at least 45 days.
- Microcontroller EVM Scrutiny: Following the announcement of the results, a team of engineers will investigate the burned memory in the microcontroller EVM upon request from applicants ranked second and third. Such petitions must be submitted within 7 days following the announcement of the results.
Financial Aspect and Refunds
Candidates who want to check the EVM program have to pay for it. If the EVM is found to have been tampered with, the incurred expenses will be reimbursed.
Judicial Proceedings
The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta had initially reserved judgment on April 24, after re-listing the case to get clarification from the Election Commission of India (ECI) about Symbol Loading Units (SLU) availability.
Previous Developments
On April 18, the apex court reserved judgment after hearing arguments from various petitioners’ lawyers, an Election Commission of India (ECI) official, and senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the ECI.