Delhi HC asks State Election Commission to clarify whether EVM are VVPAT compatible

New Delhi [India], April 7 : In view of the upcoming Delhi Municipal Corporation polls, the Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Delhi State Election commission to clarify on how many M2 models of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are VVPAT compatible and also to clarify the number of such machines.
The High court sought these details after the Election commission of India (ECI) and State Election commission filed their affidavits on the plea moved by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). AAP has sought the Court's direction to the State Election Commission to conduct the upcoming elections for the Municipal Corporations of Delhi with EVMs which are compatible with VVPAT.
The Bench of Justice Rekha Palli granted ten days time to the State Election commission to clarify on how many M2 EVMs are compatible with VVPAT. The Court has directed the petitioner's counsel to file the rejoinder within two days thereafter. The Court has listed the matter on April 29 for further hearing.
Senior Advocate Rahul appearing for the petitioner stated by referring to the affidavits file the two commissions that some of the series are VVPAT compatible and some are not. It should be clarified as to how many EVM are VVPAT compatible.
On the other hand, Advocate Sumit Pushkarana appearing for the State Election commission stated that 29,532 Control Units and 32,028 Ballot Units have been procured. He sought time to get information on how many are VVPAT compatible. The Bench allowed his request and listed the matter for the next date.
The Bench on March 24 had sought a response from ECI and Delhi State Election Commission and asked them to file an affidavit with details to make clear whether M-2 EVM is compatible to the VVPAT or not.
The Court had also noted the different stands of ECI and State Election commission wherein ECI said M-2 EVM is incompatible to VVPAT and on the other hand state election commission said M-2 EVM is compatible to the VVPAT system.
While opposing the petition of AAP, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for the Election Commission of India had submitted that the petition is non-maintainable at all and is providing M-2 EVM to the State Election Commission as per the demand.
"Each state election commission must be aware that they have to made available their own infrastructure," ECI counsel said. Senior advocate Rahul Mehra had shown displeasure with respondents for their contradictory stand. He submitted that MCD elections are around and the State Election Commission has not developed its own infrastructure despite having a Supreme Court's direction of 2014 that is very much clear in this regard.
The Petitioner of AAP through its MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj stated that the EVMs without the VVPAT machines make it almost impossible to ascertain the accuracy of the machines and rule out any tampering.
"The use of the old M-2 EVMs without VVPAT is in contravention of the express directions issued by the Supreme Court in the Subramanian Swamy vs Election Commission case which emphatically recognized that the incorporation and implementation of a system of paper trail in EVMs is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections," stated the plea.
"Petitioner is aggrieved by the response from State Election Commission (Delhi) on March 7 which stated that the Delhi Municipal Elections 2022 will be held using M-2 EVMs without VVPAT," said the plea.
"The decision to conduct the 2022 MCD Election using M-2 EVMs without VVPAT is wholly illegal, arbitrary, perverse, whimsical, and amounts to a colourable exercise of power," read the petition.