New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed Tuesday a PIL seeking 100 per cent matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during counting of votes May 23 for the Lok Sabha polls.
A vacation bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra refused to entertain the plea filed by a Chennai-based organisation ‘Tech for All’, stating that a larger bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had already dealt with the matter and passed an order
“The CJI had dealt with this matter. Why are you taking chance before a two-judge vacation bench,” the apex court asked. “We cannot override the CJI’s order. This is nonsense. The petition is taken on board. Dismissed,” Justice Mishra said.
The apex court had May 7 dismissed a review plea filed by 21 Opposition leaders led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu seeking that random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs be increased to 50 per cent.
The top court had April 8 directed the Election Commission (EC) to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs from one to five polling booths per Assembly segment in Lok Sabha polls. It said that the move would provide greater satisfaction not just to political parties but also to the entire electorate.
PTI