Should VVPATs be counted before EVM votes?

Twenty-two Opposition parties met the Election Commission (EC) demanding that tallying of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in five polling booths in each Assembly segment with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) be done prior to the counting of votes.

The parties have demanded that if any discrepancy is found anywhere in the VVPAT verification, hundred per cent counting of paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that Assembly segment should be done. The EC, however, remained non-committal and told them that there would be a special meeting of the full Commission on Wednesday to examine the issue.

The Opposition parties together and individually have met the EC 94 times in the last few months with the same request. The EC also refused the demand for 100% tallying of VVPAT slips. Should VVPATs be counted before EVM votes?