Subramanian Swamy - Investigation On EVM

Investigation On EVM

Subramanian Swamy demanded that an independent committee should be formed to check the security and safety of the Electronic Voting Machines to avoid any rigging or tampering . He argued that countries like US, Japan, UK, Germany and Netherlands have abandoned EVMs and are using paper-ballot system and demanded that a printed receipt should be given to every voter after casting the vote. His PIL to investigate the working of EVM was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on 17 January 2012. The court refused to give any directions to the Election Commission to bring back paper-ballot system or use of printed receipts. The Commission argued that the use of paper is not feasible due to the huge size of Indian electorate. The court further asked the Election Commission to "immediately begin a process of wider consultations" and the Parliament "to go into this question in depth and decide".

On 22 January 2013 the Election Commission informed the Supreme Court that it would include Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail System (VVPAT) which is in the testing phase, in the machines so that every voter will come to know who he/she is voting by getting a printed slip after pressing the EVM button. The Commission replied in response to the appeal against the judgement which was earlier rejected by the Delhi High Court.