N CHANDRABABU NAIDU Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Writ Petition (C) No. 273/2019:

(2.) According to the ECI, the said query was posed to an Expert Body, namely, ISI. In response, the ISI had submitted an elaborate report, the crux of which is that verification of VVPAT paper trail of 479 (randomly selected) Electronic Voting Machines ("EVMs") would generate over 99% accuracy in the election results. It is also pointed out that as per Guideline No. 16.6 i.e. verification of VVPAT paper trails of one Assembly Constituency or Assembly Segment in a Parliamentary Constituency would involve verification of VVPAT paper trail of 4125 EVMs instead of 479 EVMs which is eight times more than what has been reported by the ISI. Additionally, the ECI has pointed out infrastructure difficulties, including manpower availability, at this point of time, in increasing the number of EVMs for verification. According to the Election Commission of India, the sample verification of the VVPAT paper trail of one EVM is done by a team of three Officers under the direct supervision of the Returning Officer and the Election Observer of the constituency. The process takes about an hour. If what the petitioner asks for i.e. verification of VVPAT paper trail of 50% of the EVMs, the declaration of result of election could be delayed by 5-6 days.

(3.) In a situation where the ECI, a constitutional body, is satisfied on the integrity of the EVMs and which is further fortified by the sample verification of VVPAT paper trail of one EVM per Assembly Constituency or Assembly Segment in a Parliamentary Constituency, the exercise sought for by the petitioner would be a futile exercise, which the Court should not order, it is contended.