The Supreme Court of India on Thursday directed the Election Commission to verify the allegation that during a mock poll in Kerala, extra votes were recorded in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), LiveLaw reported.
On Thursday, both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) gave complaints to the District Collector that at least four electronic voting machines (EVM) erroneously registered extra votes in favour of the BJP during the mock test in Kerala’s Kasargod constituency.
Opposition leaders have cast doubts over EVM’s transparency during the election campaign. This incident before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections has raised concern.
The bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was hearing petitions seeking 100% verification of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail slips (VVPATs). Today is the second day of the hearing.
The apex court gave the oral direction after Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms, raised the issue during the hearing.
After a 2019 Supreme Court order, VVPAT slips from only five randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly segment are verified.
