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EVMs for which they are taking various steps in consultation with the Technical Experts Committee and the views of all recognized political parties. Mr. Desai also promised to appraise this Court about the deliberations and the ultimate decision to be taken by them in this regard. Accordingly, this Court granted sufficient time to the ECI to file Status Report regarding introduction of VVPAT system in EVMs to be used in the elections. 19) Pursuant to the directions of this Court, the ECI filed a Status Report on the developments of VVPAT system. In the said report, the ECI, citing various technicalities, prayed for further time to make the system more robust for the field conditions. 20) On 15.12.2012, M/s BEL, Bangalore filed a report showing the status of development of VVPAT system which contains changes that have been carried out in VVPAT from September to December, 2012 and also furnished chronological changes made in VVPAT system after the field trial of the VVPAT system held in July and August, 2012. 10 Page 10

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Swamy v. Election Commission

Judgment

Question Presented: Are current EVMs up to international standards? Is a paper trail/receipt necessary in electronic voting?

Alleged Acts: The petitioner argued the EVMs at present do not meet international standards and are open to hacking. They also do not include a paper trial to record a vote in the EVM.

Procedural history: The petitioner petitioned the Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi for a writ of mandamus towards the ECI. The High Court disposed of the petition, which the petitioner is appealing to the Supreme Court.

Summary: The petitioner, a MP, brought this suit against the ECI arguing that EVMs should have a paper trail/backup safeguard, as is common practice in other countries.The court agreed and held that the “paper trail is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of the voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the “paper trail”. EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system.”

Conclusion: The ECI and other stakeholders found that the VVPAT system is the best option, to which the Court agreed. The Court allowed the ECI to introduce paper trails through VVPAT system gradually given the million polling booths they have to deal with.

Legal Issue(s)

Electronic Voting

Applicable Law(s): Constitution- Article 19(1)(a)

Region: Asia-Pacific

Country: India

Language of Decision

English

Court: Supreme Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: Oct 8, 2013

Geolocation

Latitude: 28.78511016681805

Longitude: 77.33957630956225

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

India- Swamy v. Election Commission.pdf
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Swamy v. Election Commission

Primary Documents

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