“We Can’t Control Polls”: Supreme Court To Prashant Bhushan In VVPAT Case

New Delhi:

The Supreme Courtroom at present mentioned it’s not the controlling authority for elections and can’t dictate the functioning of Election Fee, a constitutional authority. The remarks got here throughout the listening to on petitions searching for thorough cross-verification of votes solid on Digital Voting Machines (EVM) with paper slips generated via the VVPAT system. The court docket has reserved the judgment for now. 

The bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta questioned if it will possibly act on mere suspicion.

Responding to considerations raised by Advocate Prashant Bhushan, showing for petitioner Affiliation for Democratic Reforms, the court docket mentioned, “In case you are predisposed a few thought-process, then we can not assist you… we aren’t right here to alter your thought course of.”

Amid the Opposition’s apprehensions concerning the EVM voting system, the petitions search a course to cross-verify each vote solid on EVMs with the paper slips generated by the VVPAT system. At the moment, this cross-verification is completed for 5 randomly chosen EVMs in each Meeting constituency.

Within the earlier hearings, the petitioners raised the problem of public belief and drew comparisons with European nations which have gone again to the poll voting system. The court docket shot down such comparisons, observing that the challenges listed here are totally different. The Election Fee, on its half, careworn that the present system is foolproof.

An EVM has a management unit and a balloting unit. These are linked by a cable. These are additionally linked with a VVPAT — Voter Verified Paper Audit Path — machine. This machine allows a voter to see if the vote was solid correctly and went to the candidate he/she helps.

As proceedings started this morning, the court docket sought some clarifications from the ballot physique about microcontrollers within the system and if they are often re-programmed.

The Election Fee responded that every one three items have their very own microcontrollers and these may be programmed solely as soon as. Mr Bhushan contended that these microcontrollers have a flash reminiscence that’s re-programmable. “To say that it’s not re-programmable is inaccurate,” he mentioned.

The court docket mentioned it has to belief the ballot physique’s technical report. “They’re saying quantum of flash reminiscence could be very low. They’ll retailer 1024 symbols, not software program. They are saying that so far as microcontrollers within the CU (management unit) is anxious, it’s agnostic. It doesn’t recognise the get together or image, it is aware of the buttons,” Justice Khanna mentioned.

When Mr Bhushan puzzled whether it is attainable to load a computer virus within the flash reminiscence, the court docket remarked, “Can we concern a mandamus on the premise of a suspicion? We aren’t the controlling authority of one other constitutional authority, we can not management the elections.”