The Election Commission told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that its ‘EVM Challenge’ had hardly any taker among the political parties.
A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, is considering the question whether Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with. It is also looking into the incorporation of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) into EVMs.
The Commission told the court that after the furore created by certain parties that had said EVMs were susceptible to tampering, the ‘EVM Challenge’, 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. Even the NCP and the CPI(M) had made it clear, towards the date of the challenge, that they did not want to challenge the EVM but to “understand the process”.
“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 said it was “committed to implementing VVPATs nationwide by 2019.”
