DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY versus ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

Citation: [2013] 14 S.C.R. 565 · Decided: 08-10-2013 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: P. SATHASIVAM · Disposal: Disposed off
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2013] 14 S.C.R. 565 
DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY 
v. 
ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA 
(Civil Appeal No. 9093 of 2013) 
OCTOBER 8, 2013 
[P. SATHASIVAM, CJI AND RANJAN GOGOi, JJ.] 
A 
B 
Election Laws - Election Polls - Voting - Introduction of 
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with Electronic 
Voting Machine (EVM) - Petitions seeking direction to c 
Election Commission of India (EC/) to introduce system of 
'paper trail' with EVM - After amendment in the Conduct of 
Election Rules, 1961, EC/ successfully used VVPAT system 
in the polling stations of Assembly Constituency of Nagaland 
- Held: System of 'paper trail' is indispensable requirement 
0 
of free and fair elections and for achieving confidence of the 
voters - EVMs with VVPA T system ensure accuracy of voting 
system - EC/ permitted to introduce the system in gradual 
stages - Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 - rr. 49A to 49X, 
66A, 55C, 56C, 57C and Form 17C. 
The appellant filed writ petition before High Court 
seeking writ of Mandamus directing Election Commission 
of India to incorporate a system of "Paper trail/Paper 
Receipt"_ in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) as a 
convincing proof that the EVM has rightly registered the 
vote cast by a voter. The petition was dismissed. Hence 
the present appeal. 
The writ petition under Article 32 also prays for writ 
E 
F 
of mandamus directing the respondents to effect the 
necessary modifications in the EVMs so as to allow the 
G 
voters to verify their respective votes and attach printers 
to EVMs with a facility to print the running record of the 
votes. The petitioner also prayed (or a direction to frame 
guidelines and to effect necessary amendments in the 
565 
H 
566 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2013] 14 S.C.R. 
A Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. 
The stand of the Election Commission was that the 
apprehension that EVMs could be tampered with, is 
baseless; and that it has been exploring the possibility 
of incorporating a viable Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail 
B (VVPAT) system as a part of presently used EVMs to 
make the election system more transparent. Election 
Commission also filed Status Report on the 
developments of WPAT system. 
c 
Disposing of the appeal and the petition, the Court 
HELD: 1. It is seen from the records that after various 
deliberations with the experts and persons concerned 
with the technology, the Technical Experts Committee 
approved the final design of WPAT units in its meeting 
held on 19.01.2013. In order to meet the directions of this 
D Court and for proper execution of VVPAT system, the 
Eh~ction Commission of lndia(ECI) in its letter dated 
28.03.2013, addressed to the Secretary to the Government 
of India, Ministry of Law and Justice stated that 
necessary ground work for amendment to the Conduct 
E of Election Rules, 1961 (in relevant parts in Rules 49A to 
49X, 66A, 55C, 56C, 57C and Form 17C) may be made so 
that the amendment to the Rules can be notified 
immediately which will enable the ECI to use the WPAT 
system in bye-elections in consultation with the political 
F parties. By placing all those materials, the ECI requested 
the Ministry of Law and Justice for drafting and notifying 
amendment Rules expeditiously. [Para 22) [575-A-D] 
2. The affidavit dated 21.08.2013, filed on behalf of the 
ECI, shows that the Ministry of Law and Justice, on 
G 24.07.2013, referred the draft notification to amend the 
Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to provide for use of 
WPAT system of elections to the ECI for its views and 
comments. 
The 
ECI 
suggested certain 
minor 
modifications in the draft notification and sent the same 
H back to the Ministry of Law and Justice on 02.08.2013 
DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY v. ELECTION 
567 
COMMISSION OF INDIA 
with a request to notify the amendment Rules at the 
A 
earliest. Accordingly, the Ministry of Law and Justice 
notified the amendments to the Conduct of Election 
Rules, 1961 in the Gazette of India vide Notification No. 
S.O. 2470(E) dated 14.08.2013 to enable use of WPAT 
with EVMs. [Para 24) [575-G-H; 576-A] 
B 
3. Though initially the ECI was little reluctant in 
introducing "paper trail" by use of WPAT, taking note of 
the advantage in the system, pursuant to the several 
directions to the ECI, the ECI contacted several expert 
bodies, technical advisors, etc. They also had various 
C 
meetings with National and State level political parties, 
demonstrations were conducted at various places and 
finally after a thorough
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