The Electoral Integrity Conundrum: The Humanization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Asked the UN Panel of Experts,
The Supreme Court of India has gathered at a turning point as it prepares to deliver a two-fold determining evaluation of the nation’s electoral practices that may revolutionize democracy in the country. At the heart of this high-stakes legal battle lies a contentious issue that has polarized public opinion and sparked fervent debates: the degree of sustaining Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) in accordance with established transparency and auditing standards.
A choir of advocates, which is made up of political parties and civil society organizations with ordinary people among them, has been redundantly raising the brouhaha on a uniform verification of VVPAT papers with EVM results. Their dream of an absolute vote-by-vote tallying echoes the souls of those who fathom the possible scheme and trickery of the current system.
On the contrary, the ultra-fierce Election Commission of India is best known for its will to endow whatever it perceives as its electronic voting systems with unchangeable safety and reliability. The Election Commission, in all its assertiveness, repeatedly contends that the existing safeguards, like the physical verification of the VVPAT count through random selection of the paper trails, are adequate to guarantee the integrity of the electoral process.
The nation that withers with its pendulum’s movement, the Supreme Court, shoulders its way to the center of the debate that concerns the very core values of a democracy. The repercussions of its judgment will extend, and it may either help a society become more trusting or it may create social turmoil.
Should the court gloss over a VVPAT verification of all ballots, it might be a beginning on the road to an improved election process with a more informed citizenry, thus building trust in the election system. However, on the contrary, if the court rules out the mentioned rules, distrust will only spread, and the accusation of evidence manipulation will be one of the most obvious reactions to it.
