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A PIL was filed by leaders of 21 opposition political parties, demanding counting and cross verification of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) in at least 50% (randomly chosen) of all polling stations within each Assembly Segment/ Constituency. The petition also challenges the decision of ECI to verify VVPAT of only one randomly selected booth of a constituency. The petitioners say that this will account only for 0.44% of the votes polled. This guideline defeats the entire purpose of VVPAT. A counter affidavit was filed in Supreme Court by Election Commission of India relating to difficulties in carrying out verification of VVPAT slips as it would delay the process of counting by 6 days more. Also ECI has explained that the VVPAT slip is displayed to the voter through a transparent window in the Electronic Voting Machine for about 7 seconds after the casting of vote. Therefore, the voter can verify his vote then and there itself. The necessity of counting the printed paper slips would only arise if there is any discrepancy between the results as shown by the EVM and as reflected on the printed paper slip. VVPAT is a paper slip generated by the Electronic Voting Machine everytime a voter casts his vote, recording the party to whom the vote was made. This is kept in a sealed cover to be opened only in case of a future dispute. In 2017 ECI submitted that VVPAT will be used in future elections. Last week, the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had required the Commission to reply whether it is possible to increase the VVPAT sample survey in every assembly segment. In the affidavit submitted by ECI it states that it is also relevant to mention that in many Assembly Constituencies, there are more than 400 polling stations, which will require about 8-9 days to complete the VVPAT slip count. Now, Supreme Court has given time to those 21 political parties to respond to the stand of the ECI.
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