April 26th 2024.
On Friday, former chief election commissioners came forward to express their support for the Supreme Court's decision to reject pleas to return to the ballot system and conduct a complete cross-verification of votes using EVMs with paper trail machines. They stated that the current system of matching results is sufficient and that additional measures are not necessary.
In its verdict on various petitions, the top court acknowledged that persistent doubts and mistrust in EVMs can undermine the electoral process and decrease citizen participation. Former CEC OP Rawat praised the apex court's ruling and revealed that the Election Commission had sought assistance from the Indian Statistical Institute back in 2017 to determine the sample size for VVPAT-EVM cross-verification in order to achieve a 99.99 per cent voter confidence level.
According to Rawat, the ISI suggested that a sample of 479 VVPAT counts out of 10 lakh polling stations would be sufficient for a 99.99 per cent confidence level. The EC then decided to identify one polling station in each assembly segment for EVM-VVPAT match, which amounted to 4,300 polling stations. However, when the opposition parties approached the Supreme Court, the number was increased to five polling stations per assembly segment, resulting in a total of 21,000 polling stations being counted.
Rawat explained that this is a significant improvement from the initial sample size of 479 and that any further increase would not significantly impact the confidence level beyond 99.99 per cent. Another former chief election commissioner, N Gopalaswamy, offered a similar perspective, comparing the VVPAT count to checking a few grains of rice when cooking a large quantity. He added that if one VVPAT count is statistically sufficient, then five counts would increase the confidence level to 500 per cent.
He also pointed out the tendency of some parties to blame the EVMs when they lose and praised the EVMs when they win. Another former CEC, who wished to remain anonymous, recalled that the courts have consistently rejected pleas against EVMs. He also mentioned a meeting between the Election Commission and 60 opposition leaders just days before the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where they requested a 100 per cent VVPAT count. However, the EC made an informed decision after internal deliberations and rejected the plea.
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