AP high court refuses order on 100% counting of VVPATs

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday refused to intervene in the VVPAT counting process in view of the latest Supreme Court order.
The high court closed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition without any order and observed that it was not appropriate to take up the petition while the SC had dismissed a petition on counting of VVPATs.
Advocate Y Balaji had moved the high court with a PIL seeking orders to direct the Election Commission to take up counting of VVPATs prior to EVMs. He argued that if five random VVPATs were counted after the EVMs were counted, there would be no significance since by that time the winner would be known to all. Balaji argued that a detailed guideline should be notified to make it mandatory to count all VVPATs in case of a discrepancy between the EVM and VVPAT count.
The counsel for the EC argued that the guidelines have already been framed for the counting of EVMs and VVPATs and there was no scope for any error. He also argued that it was not appropriate for the HC to consider the petition when the apex court had turned down a petition on the same issue. Balaji countered this argument saying that the plea in his petition was different from that filed in the SC. The HC observed that it was not the right time to take up the petition and they cannot pass orders.