HC seeks EC's response on VVPAT allocation in Delhi civic polls

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the Election Commission's response as to why Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) cannot be allocated for the municipal election in the national capital through the State Election Commission (SEC).Hearing a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, Justice Rekha Palli asked the EC's counsel to respond, through their officials concerned, before March 24. The plea was seeking directions for the use of VVPAT machines for the polls to rule out chances of malpractice, stating EVMs without VVPAT is manifestly wrong and amounts to a colourable exercise of power.It was pointing out the poll watchdog's earlier response in which it said the upcoming Delhi civic polls will be using M-2 EVMs without VVPAT.Last week, the apex court had agreed to hear a similar plea that demanded VVPAT verification at the beginning of counting of votes, rather than verification after the counting is over.The plea had sought VVPAT verification of EVMs in five booths per constituency instead of one booth per constituency, which is the current practice.
--IANS jw/vd

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