SC seeks Centre's response on plea for VVPAT for Gujarat polls

The Supreme Court has sought response of the Centre and the chief election commissioner on a plea filed a Gujarat Patidar leader seeking the use of either ballot paper or electronic voting machines with paper trail for the upcoming Assembly election in the state. A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul issued notice to the Centre, the CEC, the Gujarat government and the state election commission, and sought their response in four weeks. The apex court posted the matter for hearing to the first week of July.

Petitioner Reshma Vithabhai Patel, the convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, which was in the forefront of the Patel quota agitation, claimed that EVMs were not "fully reliable, foolproof, tamper-proof or hacker-proof".

The plea was dismissed by the Gujarat High Court on April 12. The Election Commission should be asked to replace EVMs with ballot paper, or to ensure Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for every EVM, she had demanded. The Assembly election in Gujarat is due later this year.