EC to SC: Parties who were not part of 'EVM Challenge' should not cry foul

The Election Commission on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that its 'EVM Challenge' had hardly any taker among the political parties.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the EC told the court that after the furore created by certain parties that EVMs can be tampered, the 'EVM Challenge' was organised on June 3, turned out to be a damp squib as none of the major parties, except the NCP and the CPI(M), chose to turn up.

The NCP and CPI(M) had not challenged the functionality of the EVMs but just wanted to understand the procedure

"Thus, no political party or person was able to demonstrate how the EVMs could be tampered with during the course of the challenge. Subsequently, the Election Commission issued a press note wherein it reiterated its commitment to holding all future elections with VVPATs," it said.

The EC also told a bench headed by Chief Justice JS Kheha that it was committed to implementing VVPATs nationwide by 2019. It will also be conducting the Gujarat Assembly polls using Electronic Voting Machines with paper trail if it gets VVPAT machines by September.

Currently it has 53,500 VVPAT units, said the poll panel, adding that the number of VVPAT units required for conducting election to the Gujarat legislative Assembly is 70,000 units. The VVPAT machine is connected with EVMs and dispenses a paper proof for the voters so that they can verify that their vote is cast correctly.

OneIndia News