Supreme Court asks Centre to examine EVM totalisers: what the machines would change
India’s Supreme Court has asked the Union government to state its position on the use of totaliser machines for counting electronic-voting-machine results, reviving a long-running debate about ballot secrecy and booth-level transparency.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana was hearing a petition seeking aggregated counting. The court’s question is not a final order directing the Election Commission of India to deploy totalisers.
What a totaliser does
A totaliser can combine the results stored in as many as 14 EVM control units before producing an aggregate. Current booth-wise counting reveals how each polling station voted. Aggregation would make it harder to identify the electoral preference of a small neighbourhood or village.
Supporters say that added secrecy could reduce the risk that communities face retaliation or selective rewards because of a booth’s voting pattern. Critics argue that booth-level data helps candidates, parties and researchers audit local patterns and may aid scrutiny of the count.
Why deployment is not immediate
Election Commission material says totalisers are not presently used. Changing the method may require amendments to election rules, operational testing, security procedures and political consultation. Earlier discussions among political parties did not produce consensus.
The court proceeding therefore begins a policy and legal examination; it does not change the counting process for an election already under way. Any future implementation should be judged by verifiable testing, transparent procedures, access for candidates’ agents and a clear explanation of how paper-trail verification would work with aggregated results.
Sources: The Indian Express court report; Election Commission of India EVM information; LiveLaw hearing report.
Supreme Court of India. Photo: The Indian Express.
