New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) The Lok Sabha elections results may be delayed a day due to an increased number of VVPAT verifications, sources in the Election Commission said on Tuesday.
“As per the previous plan, the results of the elections are scheduled to be declared on May 23. But the results may be delayed and the final results may be declared to May 24 due to an increased number of VVPAT verifications,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
Explaining the reason behind the delay, the EC official said that an increase in the number of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) verification from one to five polling booths in each Assembly segment of a Parliamentary constituency, as directed by the apex court on April 8, could delay the counting by more than five-six hours and the final tally is likely to be clear on May 24.
READ: Lok Sabha Polls 2019: Top Court Directs EC to Increase VVPAT Verification from One to Five per Assembly Segment
While in a major setback to the Opposition parties, the Top Court on Tuesday refused to increase the count for the verification of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips to 50% with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the ongoing national elections 2019. Hearing the plea filed by 21 Opposition parties, the Top Court Bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said at the outset that, ‘we are not willing to modify our order’.
Senior Lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Opposition leaders, asserted in the court that plea filed by the opposition viable, reasonable and meaningful.
However, the Top Court declined to consider Singhvi’s argument, asserting that, ‘We are not inclined to modify our earlier order’.
The Poll Body earlier in response to the Top Court said that 50% verification of VVPAT in every assembly constituency will delay the Lok Sabha election results by 5-6 days.
VVPATs is a unit attached to EVMs and Control Units and it enables the voter to see the name of Candidate and Party to who is vote cast to.
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