Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking review of its judgement rejecting plea for 100 per cent verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) votes with their Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips.
The latest statement of the Congress leader came a day after he called EVMs a ‘black box’ in India that cannot be scrutinised, in the wake of a media report claiming EVM hacking at Mumbai North West parliamentary constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.
He said the goal is to leave no one behind and let everyone fully participate in the electoral process.
Despite the commission's lofty claims, the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) new Election Management System (EMS) failed, he said.
"Elections through ballot paper are necessary to restore the faith in democracy,” said the Samajwadi Party president.
The Commission asked the state administration to conduct operations on EVMs and VVPATs in the presence of stakeholders such as political parties and candidates to ensure transparency.
Instead of a Messianic superhero as a leader, a team of regional leaders, working on a common minimum agenda of inclusive development and sensitive to the need of making constant adjustments in the interests of diverse groups, may be the best hope for a diverse, plural, heterogeneous country like India.
Amidst growing doubts and apprehensions regarding so many institutions like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Comptroller and the Auditor-General of India, the Election Commission of India still enjoys good measure of the confidence of the people. It is hoped the ECI lives up to its reputation in the coming general election to be held under the new system of EVMs with VVPAT across the country for the first time.
It would be difficult to explain the new faith in the VVPAT devices, they too are electronic and if the EVMs can be hacked or rigged so too can their “authenticators”.
This development and its outcome will have a significant bearing given that the high stake Lok Sabha Elections 2019 are just a few weeks away.
