On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed a new plea requesting measures to increase the tallying of Voter Verifiable Paper Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes recorded via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

In Lok Sabha elections, only five Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are currently verified with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) per assembly segment.

The Bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta promptly clarified that no additional petitions on the matter could be considered, as another Division Bench of the Supreme Court had already dismissed a similar plea recently.

On April 26 (Friday), a Supreme Court Bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta dismissed a plea advocating for the tallying of all Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes recorded via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The Bench affirmed the reliability of EVM votes.

The same Bench had also rejected a proposal to revert to paper ballot voting instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). This decision was made in response to three petitions requesting instructions to match Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes recorded via EVMs during elections. One petitioner specifically requested that every vote recorded on an EVM be cross-checked against VVPAT slips.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed another plea, urging that Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips should be matched with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). This measure would enable citizens to verify that their votes have been "counted as recorded" and "recorded as cast."

The verification of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has long been a contentious issue. Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, leaders from approximately 21 opposition political parties approached the apex court, advocating for VVPAT verification of at least 50 percent of all EVMs.

Before, the Election Commission of India (ECI) used to match only one randomly selected Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) per assembly segment with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). However, on April 8, 2019, the Supreme Court increased this number from 1 to 5 and resolved the plea. In May 2019, the Court rejected a plea filed by certain technocrats requesting VVPAT verification of all EVMs.