Review petition in Supreme Court against EVM-VVPAT tally verdict

A review petition has been filed questioning the correctness of the recent Supreme Court decision to reject a plea to tally every Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slip with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) [Arun Kumar Agarwal vs Election Commission of India and anr]..The petitioner, Arun Kumar Agarwal, contends that there are mistakes and errors apparent in the April 26 judgment."It is not correct to state that the result will be unreasonably delayed [by tallying EVM votes with VVPAT slips], or the manpower required will be the double of that already deployed ... Existing CCTV surveillance of counting halls would ensure that manipulation and mischief does not occur in VVPAT slip counting," the review petition states. .On April 26, a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had dismissed the plea for tallying all VVPATs and EVM votes, while also rejecting a suggestion to go back to a paper ballot-based system of voting instead of having EVMs. The Court had emphasised the need to nurture a culture of trust and collaboration to strengthen democracy while dismissing the plea. However, it directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and other authorities to take certain steps to bolster more confidence in EVMs. These measures include the following:- On completion of the symbol loading process, the symbol loading units (SLUs) shall be sealed, the sealed container shall be kept in the strong rooms for 45 days;- All candidates shall have the option to be present at the time of verification. The district election officer shall certify the authenticity of the burnt memory;- Burnt memory in the micro-controller unit is to be checked by a team of engineers..Vested interest groups undermining nation's achievements: Justice Dipankar Datta in EVM judgment.However, Agarwal has now argued in the review petition that these measures are note adequate. "The entire discussion on the SLU ignores the fact that SLU is vulnerable and needs to be audited. This Hon’ble Court completely overlooked the possibility that the data in the SLU can have extra bytes other than just the necessary images," the review plea stated. The review petitioner adds that the April 26 judgment incorrectly notes that presently, 5 per cent of the VVPAT slips are tallied with votes cast, when in practice only 1.97 per cent of VVPAT slips are tallied with EVM votes. "Electronic voting machines do not allow voters to verify that their votes have been accurately recorded. Furthermore, given their very nature, electronic voting machines are especially vulnerable to malicious changes by insiders such as designers, programmers, manufacturers, maintenance technicians, etc.," the plea further states. .The review application has been filed through advocate Neha Rathi.