SC's Decision VVPATs Exposes Opposition 's Agenda To Defame Election Commission: Arjun Ram Meghwal

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision on the use of electronic voting machines in polls and said it has exposed opposition parties, including the Congress, that had left no opportunity to "defame" the Election Commission. The court has rejected pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and said "blindly distrusting" any aspect of the system can breed unwarranted scepticism.

"The Supreme Court in its decision said that the EVM (electronic voting machine) system is all right, its credible and there cannot be any tampering with it. The Supreme Court has given a fabulous decision. We welcome this decision on behalf of the BJP," Meghwal told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here. The decision has exposed the Congress and other constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc, the senior BJP leader said and added that they had left no opportunity to "defame" the Election Commission by raising questions on the credibility of EVMs.

On the other side, Congress said that it will keep raising the flag for more use of VVPATs. Talking to the media Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the grand old party was not petitioner, directly or indirectly, still it will continue to demand greater use of VVPATs to bring more transperancy in the electoral process.

"We have taken note of the verdict of the 2-judge bench and our political campaign on the greater use of VVPATs to increase public trust in the electoral process will continue," Ramesh said.

The Supreme Court has rejected pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and said "blindly distrusting" any aspect of the system can breed unwarranted scepticism. Maintaining that "democracy is all about striving to build harmony and trust between all institutions", a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta delivered two concurring verdicts and dismissed all the pleas in the matter, including those seeking to go back to ballot papers in elections.