SC to hear VVPAT petition filed by Pune Congress leaders

PUNE: The Supreme Court (SC) will be hearing a petition filed by two Congress leaders from the city on Wednesday seeking the upgradation of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

With the 2024 General Elections around the corner, Congress leaders from Pune have moved the apex court seeking a time and date on VVPAT which allows voters to verify whether the EVM recorded their vote as per their wishes. The writ petition filed by Congress leaders Abhay Chhajed and Ramesh Iyer have petitioned the court to direct the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure that the elections are conducted in a fair and transparent manner by implementing the 2013 SC order and expert committee report to use upgraded VVPAT.

The PIL was listed before a bench of Chief Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra on Wednesday. The EVMs provide the date and timing of voters in the VVPAT.

Following the petition, the SC issued a notice to the ECI and Central Government asking them to file their submissions before the court on February 7 in connection with the petition demanding that the time and date of voting should be printed on the VVPAT slip of the EVM machine.

The petitioners said in the recently held Kasba Vidhan Sabha by-election, Congress candidate and sitting MLA Ravindra Dhangekar had sent a letter to the ECI demanding verification of time, date, and stamp on VVPAT slips during the counting in 215 Kasba assembly bypolls before the voting date. However, his request was met with a cold response by the ECI.

“Petition has brought to the notice of the SC that although the expert committee of the Election Commission recommended that slips should be printed with the date and time of polling, it has not been implemented from time to time. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the government and the Election Commission should coordinate and implement the recommendations of the expert committee,” the petition said.

“In the expert committee report it mentioned that EVM and VVPAT machines should be upgraded. As mentioned in the report, the date and time should appear on the VVPAT slip but it is not to be seen. For a free, fair, and transparent election the voter has the right to verify whether the voting which he has done is correct,” said Iyer.