TNI Bureau: In a major development, the Supreme Court today gave green signal for the use of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the 2024 election by rejecting the petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of votes cast on EVMs with paper slips generated through the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) method.

Moreover, the two-judge bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta unanimously rejected the prayers of petitioners for usage of ballot paper for voting.

The two-judge bench has given two directions. The first direction is that after the completion of symbol loading process, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) should be sealed and they should be stored at least for a period of 45 days.

The second direction is there will be option for candidates to get the microcontroller program of EVMs to be checked by a team of engineers after the declaration of results. However, the candidate will have to make such request within seven days after the declaration of results.