SC and VVPAT slips

The apex court has directed a somewhat reluctant EC to increase by five times the number of EVMs whose vote count must be matched with VVPAT slips in each assembly segment. This is despite the persistent confirmation by virtually every serving and former CEC about the soundness of EVMs, the 21-party opposition front is not entirely satisfied.

Apparently, political parties are difficult to convince. If only had their Lordships been as confident about the incorruptibility of the EVMs - as Nirvachan Sadan contends - they ought to have forcefully rejected the claims of Opposition parties and directed them to desist from being obstructionist. Yet by ordering a less-than token increase in the number of VVPAT devices the court has permitted a continuance of the "no smoke without fire" theory.

-JS Acharya, Hyderabad