Eight petitions filed this year in SC to match VVPAT slips with EVM count

New Delhi: As many as eight petitions were filed this year for matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail unit (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes in the Supreme Court and various high courts, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

Citing information provided by the Election Commission, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply that after counting of votes, mandatory verification of VVPAT or paper trail machine slips of randomly selected five polling stations per assembly constituency or segment in case of Lok Sabha polls is conducted following a Supreme Court order of April 2019 in N Chandrababu Naidu vs Union of India case.

"Deposit of any amount is not required for the said mandatory verification. The EC has further stated that as required, the mandatory verification has been done in all elections held in 2024," the minister said.