To,
The Honourable Chief Justice,
Supreme Court of India,
India

Respected Sir,

Today the average Indian voter is undeniably concerned with the manufacturing, programming, testing and usage of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) especially around vulnerabilities around tampering, hacking and manipulation.  

These concerns have been magnified around developments relating to the selection of Chief-functionaries of the Election Commission of India (ECI), mismatch between the tally of EVM votes and the total votes polled, as also the destruction of the voting slips in 4 months instead of the ideal 5 years. 

Most important was the finding that in 185 (34%) of the total parliamentary constituencies in the 2019 elections, the margin of victory was less than 10%. 83 of these 185 seats which translates to 15% of the total parliamentary constituencies were won by the present ruling party.

This further adds suspicion around the potential possibilities of manipulation of election results. 

Given this backdrop, it is important that mechanisms need to be instituted so that the voter must feel that there is complete respect for a citizen’s voting choice because ultimately it is his/her/their investment in their future.

In a best-case scenario, there should be 100% counting and tallying of the VVPAT slips for all polling booths. Short of that, we request your kind attention towards the following.

1.   The number of randomly selected polling booths for verification of VVPAT slips be increased to at least 25% of all polling booths in the respective constituency.

2.  In case the margin of victory in a constituency is less than 10,000 votes or less than 10%, in that case there should be 100% verification and tallying of the VVPAT slips in 100% of the polling booths in the constituency. 

3.  The black glass of the VVPAT Machine be replaced by a lighter more transparent glass that allows the voter to clearly see the symbol of choice, as well as see the voter slip being dropped in the box. 

Gaining the confidence of the voter is critical to establishing the strength of the democratic process and enhancing trust in the outcome of the electoral process. 

We urge you to kindly consider our plea wholeheartedly.

Our deep gratitude for your attention. 

Fellow Voters of India, if this petition to the Chief Justice of India, resonates with you, please do consider signing the petition and sharing it in your networks.

Thank you,

Vinti, Pradhanika, Cassandra, Varsha, Vijaya, Richa, Pracheta, Sandhya, Namita, Sheena, Purva, Sunita and all those signing this petition. 

#EnsureVoterConfidence2024

#TransparentElections2024