The Supreme Court of India, on Monday, declined to entertain a petition that sought mandatory 100% manual counting of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in addition to the usual electronic counting of votes via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The case was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar, and Justice KV Viswanathan. The petition was filed by Hans Raj Jain, who appeared in person before the court.
Jain informed the bench that he had earlier submitted a representation to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding this issue. However, after receiving no response, he approached the Delhi High Court by filing a writ petition, which was eventually dismissed.
The Supreme Court bench refused to reopen the matter and observed that the issue had already been examined in detail in the past.
CJI Sanjiv Khanna remarked:
"Hum issue examine kar chukke hai, pehle bhi examine kiya hai par ab baar baar nahi jaa sakte"
(We have already examined the issue in the past, we cannot keep re-examining the issue now.)
It's worth noting that in April 2024, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had earlier dismissed similar pleas seeking 100% cross-verification of EVM data with VVPAT records. While rejecting the petitioners' requests, the court did pass two important directions:
- Storage of Symbol Loading Units (SLUs) must be ensured.
- Post-poll verification of 5% EVMs per assembly segment can be carried out upon request by the runner-up candidate.
Despite the past ruling, the petitioner reiterated his doubts about the speed and transparency of the vote counting process, highlighting his personal experience.
Jain stated:
"Yeh counting ke upper hai Sir, Inhone bina kuch kahe 12 dino mein counting kardi, jabki mera khud ka experience hai-"
(My petition is about the counting process, they completed the counting in 12 days without informing anyone, and I have personal experience regarding this.)
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However, the Chief Justice interrupted and proceeded to issue a dismissal of the petition.
CJI stated in the order:
"We do not find any good ground or reason to interfere in the impugned judgment and hence dismissed the present SLP."
The Delhi High Court had earlier, in October 2024, rejected the writ petition filed by Jain. The court had pointed out that the issue was already covered under the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Association of Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India & Anr.
Before the Delhi High Court as well, Jain had sought the complete manual counting of VVPAT paper slips and demanded that the ECI should adopt a more transparent system. He proposed a new prototype of the VVPAT system, where:
- The printer is kept open.
- After casting a vote, the printed slip would fall into a tray visible to the voter.
- The voter could pick up, verify, fold, and place the slip into a sealed box in front of the presiding officer, before leaving the polling booth.
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His suggestions aimed to bring more transparency and credibility to the voting process.
He also urged the court to ensure that in all future Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the printed paper slips inside the dropbox of the VVPAT printer should be manually counted at every polling station where the paper trail system has been implemented.
Despite the detailed plea, the Supreme Court remained firm in its decision, citing that it found no merit in re-examining a matter already addressed by previous judicial verdicts.
Case Details : HANS RAJ JAIN Versus ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA| Diary No. 1865-2025
