Not 'fully satisfied' with SC decision on VVPATs: N Chandrababu Naidu

Machilipatnam: Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu Tuesday said he was not "fully satisfied" with the Supreme Court decision on VVPATs and the Election Commission has to ensure there are not discrepancies in paper trail slips.

If there is any mismatch, the EC should ensure counting of all VVPATs in the country, he suggested. The Supreme Court Monday directed the EC to increase the random matching of paper trail machine slips with EVM results from one to five polling booths in each assembly segment for the multi-phase Lok Sabha polls starting Thursday. "I am not fully satisfied. But something is better than nothing," Naidu told PTI, adding that the EC has to ensure there are no discrepancies in VVPATs. He, however, said that the move to count even five VVPATs will "hurt" BJP prospects. "Now, they (BJP) will be afraid," he said and expressed concern over IT raids on political leaders and the EC "not giving level playing field" for every political party.

VVPAT machines are being used for the first time in any Lok Sabha elections though they were deployed in some parliamentary and assembly bypolls. Asserting that EVMs can be rigged, Naidu said, "From the beginning, I am fighting against EVMs. Being a technology man, I know the weakness of technology. Cyber security is the biggest problem and and programmers can manipulate it. Why are the developed countries not going for EVMs, despite being technologically advanced?" The Supreme Court order was on a petition by 21 Opposition leaders led by Naidu demanding counting of at least 50 per cent of paper trail machine slips per assembly segment to match the results of EVMs.