PIL on the counting of VVPATs slip rejected in AP High Court

As per the latest supreme court order, the high court on Tuesday refused to intervene in the VVPAT counting process in Andhra Pradesh.

The high court rejected the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition as the court stated that it is not appropriate to take up the petition while the Supreme Court had dismissed it.

Advocate Y Balaji in his discourse argued in the high court with a PIL seeking orders to direct the Election Commission to take up the counting of VVPATs prior to EVMs. He stated that if the VVPATs are counted at random after the counting of EVMs it will be of no use as the winner will be declared to all. He remarked that a detailed guideline should be emphasized to make it mandatory to count all VVPATs in case of discrepancy between the EVM and VVPAT count.

The EC counsel argued that the guidelines have been framed earlier for the counting of EVMs and VVPATs and there is no scope of errors. He also argued that there is no point in raising the PIL in the high court as the Supreme Court had rejected it.

Balaji argued that the PIL stated in the high court is different from that of submitted in Supreme court, but HC felt it is not the right time to take up the petition and they cannot pass orders.