Why VVPAT was brought in, why Opposition wants all slips verified

• With the first phase of voting set to take place on April 19, the Supreme Court (SC) last week said that petitions seeking 100% verification of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips would be taken up soon.
• In March 2023, the Association for Democratic Reforms had filed a petition before the apex court
• It says that to ensure free and fair elections, the tally from Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) should be cross-verified with the VVPATs.

How VVPATs Work

• VVPAT machines are like receipt printers for electronic voting.
• When you vote on an EVM, a slip showing your chosen candidate pops out for seven seconds behind a glass window.
• This lets you verify your vote before it disappears into a secure box.
• You can't take the slip home, but it's saved to check against electronic results in a few randomly chosen polling stations.

Why VVPATs?

• Introduced in 2013, VVPATs came about after the Election Commission (EC) sought ways to make electronic voting more transparent.
• After trials and feedback, they were rolled out nationwide by 2017.

Legal Battles over VVPATs

• The use of VVPATs has been challenged in court.
• In 2013, a Supreme Court case ruled paper trails were necessary and ordered funding for VVPATs.
• The court ultimately sided with a five-station recount to verify VVPAT.

PRELIMS TAKEAWAY

• VVPAT
• ECI