Supreme Court orders ECI to address EVM malfunctioning in Kerala

The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday to investigate claims regarding discrepancies with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during a mock poll in Kasaragod, Kerala. 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan had alleged that four EVMs inaccurately recorded an additional vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), prompting the court to act.

The bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, emphasised the importance of maintaining sanctity in the electoral process, asserting that there should be no doubts about the fairness and accuracy of elections. 

The hearing also addressed petitions calling for more rigorous cross-verification of votes using the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system. VVPAT allows voters to confirm their votes are correctly recorded by producing a paper slip that can be checked against electronic votes in case of a dispute.

During the proceedings, an ECI official explained the operation of EVMs and VVPATs to the court. This explanation comes in the wake of opposition parties raising concerns over the reliability of EVMs and demanding that a higher percentage of VVPAT slips be verified to ensure the integrity of election results.