VVPAT case: 'EC cleared doubts, cannot issue directions based on suspicion,' says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it does not control the elections and the Election Commission (EC) has cleared all doubts regarding the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). "The ECI has cleared doubts. We cannot change your thought process. We cannot issue a mandamus on the basis of suspicion," the bench said while hearing petitions seeking the complete verification of votes cast using EVM with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). 

During the hearing, the bench told the petitioners that the report they were relying on says that there is no incident of hacking yet. "We are not the controlling authority of another constitutional authority. We cannot control the elections. The judgment of the Supreme Court did say (use) VVPAT and it was followed. But where did it say match all slips, it says 5 percent. Now let us see if any candidate apart from this 5 per cent say that there are instances of misuse," the bench told the petitioners.

Two petitions have been filed before the apex court, seeking 100 per cent matching of VVPAT. 

A two-judge bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dattahad had earlier today sought clarifications from the poll body related to the functioning of EVMs. The court asked the commission if the microcontroller is installed in the controlling unit or the VVPAT, and if the microcontroller is one-time programmable or not. It also asked how many symbol loading units are available. 

To this, the EC said all three units - ballot units, VVPAT, and the chip - have their own microcontrollers and these microcontrollers are housed in a secured unauthorised access detection module and cannot be accessed. "All the microcontrollers are one-time programmable. It is burned when inserted so can never be changed. For symbol loading we have two manufacturers, one is ECI and Bharat Electronics."

The court further asked: "Can you get more SLUs...more manufacturers." To this, the poll body said availability of components it will not take much time. "But to make these machines, it will take one month." 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the petitioners, however, said that the flash memory of Micro Control Units can be reprogrammed.

The court then specifically asked the ECI: "Can it be re-programmed?" The EC counsel said it cannot be: "Not at all." 

"Ok, so this is absolute," the bench said. The court also explained that the stance of the EC is that the flash memory is very low and it can only store symbols and not software. "They are not saying flash memory cannot be programmed. If you are predisposed to a thought process then we cannot help you." 

"We are not here to change your thought process. They are saying the quantum of flash memory is very low. It can store 1024 symbols. Not the software. They say that as far as microcontrollers in the CU are concerned it is agnostic. It does not recognise the party or symbol. It knows the buttons," the bench said.

As the hearing was underway, Justice Khanna said, "We went through the FAQs. We just wanted three-four clarifications. We don't want to be factually wrong but doubly sure of our findings and hence we thought of seeking clarification."

A lawyer, appearing for one of the petitioners, said that the source code of EVMs should also be disclosed for transparency. To this Justice Khanna replied, "The source code should never be disclosed. If it is disclosed, it will be misused. It should never be disclosed."

(With inputs from Bar and Bench, Kanu Sarda)