Advocate Mahmood Pracha has approached the Supreme Court and prayed that he be allowed to intervene in the matter pending before the court regarding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) verification. He suggested that voting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections should be conducted through ballot papers.
In his application, the lawyer stated that he has been requesting the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct the elections through the constitutionally and statutorily mandated mechanism, that is, through ballot papers, to ascertain that the process is fair, transparent, and free from any illegal, external and surreptitious interference or manipulation.
Relying on the ECI Handbook titled, EVM BROCHURE FOR CANDIDATES & POLITICAL PARTIES, the advocate claimed that there is no inherent security feature in the mechanism of EVMs. He added that the sanctity of the voting process and the count recorded in the EVMs is secured solely by honest, vigilant and error-free supervision and handling by various stakeholders.
Furthermore, he also claimed that in terms of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 and Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, election by the use of Ballot Papers and Ballot Boxes is the rule, and resorting to EVMs can be considered by the EC on a case to case basis only in exceptional circumstances. He asserted that elections by the use of Ballot Papers and Ballot Boxes is the rule.
The plea further underlined that a system where the voter may take the VVPAT slip and deposit it in a ballot box themselves is an alternative of greater transparency than the current system, where it is not possible for the voter to verify his vote at any stage. He pleaded that a visual inspection of a slip through a glass, for a few seconds, is not a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in its true sense.
Reportedly, Advocate Pracha is himself contesting the Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate from a constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The intervention application is moved through Advocate-on-Record RHA Sikander.