The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing next week for a series of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) urging the Election Commission of India to ensure mandatory cross-verification of votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
Headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the bench responded to advocates Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan, and Gopal Sankaranarayanan’s request for an urgent hearing due to the impending general election.
Concerns were raised that delaying the hearing would render the issue moot, particularly with the first phase of elections scheduled for April 19.
“Mr. Bhushan, after all, how much time this matter will take? You can make submissions in two hours and we will finish the matter. Ok. Next week,” remarked Justice Khanna.
Earlier on April 1, another bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai had sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission regarding a PIL advocating for a complete count of VVPAT slips in elections, challenging the current practice of verifying only five randomly selected EVMs.
The notice was issued in response to a petition filed by lawyer and activist Arun Kumar Agrawal, who expressed concerns about potential EVM manipulation.
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