The Supreme Court dismissed a series of pleas even since advocating for compulsory cross-verification of votes with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. The Court stated that continuously casting doubts on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) without substantial evidence could breed distrust and decrease citizen confidence and participation in elections.
The judges of the court emphasized that rejection of unfounded suspicions about the potential manipulation of EVMs towards certain candidates was important. While giving voters the right to scrutinize the functionality of EVMs, they warned against trashing the integrity of the electoral process without actual evidence.
The Election Commission of India's credibility and the integrity of the electoral process were proved credible under the orders of the Court. The Court dismissed appeals to undermine these achievements with speculative doubts.
The Court observed that the process of symbol loading in EVMs did not mean software uploading and underlined that symbol loading does not affect the firmware of VVPAT.
While acknowledging the right of the voters to ensure the proper counting of votes, the Court rejected demands for 100% VVPAT slip counting, basing their decision on practicality issues and the possible misuse of such demands.
While reiterating that EVMs had reduced invalid votes, aided administrative efficiency, and minimized errors in the electoral process, the Court rejected appeals to revert to paper ballots.
The Court dismissed appeals seeking a return to paper ballots, questioning the motives behind such appeals, and reiterated that the nation should place its faith in hard-won progress and achievements.
Justice Dipankar Datta reiterated Justice Khanna's impressions, questioning the motives behind the return to unprogressive voting systems and highlighting the trend of undermining national achievements.
In conclusion, the Court asserted that petitioners failed to demonstrate that EVMs breach electoral principles and that demands for 100% VVPAT slip tallying had no validity. The Court also instructed that Symbol Loading Units to be sealed and to verify the integrity of EVMs to be conducted on the request of a worried candidate after elections.
Such measures would increase the transparency and the level of trust the process generates while retaining the efficiency in vote counting procedures.
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