Time-stamping on VVPAT slips technical matter in ECI’s domain: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday left to the Election Commission of India (ICI) to take a decision on a plea seeking a direction to the poll panel to modify VVPAT guidelines so that each slip displays the precise time at which a vote was cast.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the PIL for recording the precise time of vote on Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips for better electoral transparency and verifiability was a technical matter and falls within the ambit of the poll panel.

“It seems that the issue raised by the petitioner concerns electoral integrity. However, the prayer sought by the petitioner, namely, whether such a measure is feasible, is a technical issue falling within the domain of the EC,” the bench said, disposing of the plea.

The bench directed the registry to forward the plea to the EC, which in turn could consider it.

According to the PIL, time-stamping on VVPAT slips would improve transparency, verifiability and auditability of the electoral process.