News Brief
EVM-VVPAT Verification Case: Here Are Supreme Court's Five Questions And Election Commission's Answers To Them
Nishtha Anushree
Apr 24, 2024, 03:16 PM | Updated 03:16 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday (24 April) sought some clarifications from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the EVM-VVPAT verification case and reserved its judgment. Let's understand the answers given by the ECI:
1. The SC questioned whether the micro-controller is installed in the Controlling Unit (CU) or the VVPAT, responding to which the ECI said that all three units - CU, Ballot Unit (BU) and VVPAT have their own micro-controllers, which cannot be accessed physically.
2. Justice Khanna also asked whether the installed micro-controller is one-time programmable, to which ECI replied, "All the microcontrollers are one-time programmable. They are burnt at the time of manufacturing. They cannot be changed."
3. The SC also questioned about the availability of Symbol Loading Units (SLU), responding to which ECI gave approximate data that Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) has 1,400 SLUs and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has 3,400 SLUs.
4. The SC questioned about the period for storage, to which the ECI said, "All the machines are stored for 45 days. On the 46th day, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) writes to Registrars to ascertain if any election petition filed. If any Election Petition is filed, the machines remain stored."
5. On the question of whether the CU only is sealed or the VVPAT is kept separately, ECI said that all three (BU, CU and VVPAT) are sealed after the polling, LiveLaw reported.
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.