The Supreme Court orders Election Commission to count all VVPAT receipts at each polling station

New Delhi – The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to count all receipts in the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) during vote counting. Previously, verification of VVPAT receipts was done for only 5 Electronic Voting Machines in each assembly constituency of a Lok Sabha constituency. A petition demanding the verification of all VVPAT receipts was filed in the Supreme Court. The Election Commission’s argument that sequential counting of VVPAT receipts could delay the counting process was challenged in this petition. During the hearing, the Court issued the above directive.

More officers were deployed in each assembly constituency for vote counting, and if the counting of VVPAT receipts is done simultaneously, the entire verification process can be completed in just 5-6 hours, argued the petitioners.

What is the VVPAT Machine ?

VVPAT stands for ‘Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail’, a system that shows the vote cast through Electronic Voting Machines has gone to the intended candidate.

The VVPAT machine is attached to the ‘ballot unit’ of the Electronic Voting Machine. When a voter casts their vote through the EVM, their ballot is collected in the VVPAT. The voter can see the election symbol of the candidate they voted for in the VVPAT machine. This ensures that their vote has been correctly allocated to the intended candidate. The voter can only view the ballot in the VVPAT machine. After 7 seconds, the ballot is automatically deposited inside the VVPAT machine.