SC seeks Centre, EC views on totaliser system for EVM vote counting

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Union government’s views on introducing a totaliser system to count votes recorded across a cluster of electronic voting machines (EVMs), reported Live Law.

At present, votes are counted booth-wise. Under a totaliser system, votes from multiple EVMs would be counted together, making it difficult to determine the voting pattern of an individual booth.

The petitioners have argued that the system would prevent candidates and political parties from knowing the level of support they received at a particular booth, thereby reducing the risk of post-poll violence, Live Law reported.

They have sought the declaration of election results at the parliamentary constituency level instead of publishing separate booth-wise figures.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked the Centre whether there were any hurdles to introducing the system and whether it could have any adverse effects, Live Law reported. The bench also asked the Election Commission to submit its proposal on the matter to the government.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Kant questioned the need for a totaliser, noting that booth-wise counting allows discrepancies or tampering to be detected.

One of the petitioners, however, told the court that the system would help protect voter privacy.

The court also asked the Centre and the Election Commission whether a provision similar to Rule 59A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which permits the use of a totaliser for counting paper ballots, could be introduced for EVMs.

The proposal had been examined earlier but did not receive the backing of a government-appointed expert committee, counsel for the Election Commission told the court. The counsel also said that most political parties were opposed to the proposal.

“Fifty percent of national parties opposed, 68% state-level parties opposed,” The Indian Express quoted the counsel as saying.

The petitioner, meanwhile, submitted that the Election Commission had supported the introduction of a totaliser for years but had recently changed its position, Bar and Bench reported.

Referring to a Supreme Court order from January 2018, the petitioner said the Election Commission had then stated that “a time has come for introduction of totaliser for counting of the votes”.