Twenty-one opposition parties have filed a review petition in the Supreme Court today, April 24. They are seeking a review of an earlier order on the counting of voter slips of only five electronic voting machines (EVMs) in every assembly segment. The parties have once again demanded that at least 50 per cent of the voter-verifiable paper trail (VVPAT) slips be cross-checked.

The petition was filed by the leaders of the 21 opposition parties, including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav.

According to News18, Naidu, who has been at the forefront of this fight, said the review petition has been filed as democracy cannot be left at the mercy of some EVM programmers.

The Supreme Court on April 15 had directed the EC to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs. Instead of checking one VVPAT per assembly segment, the direction was to check five polling booths per assembly segment. It also said that this would provide greater satisfaction not just to political parties but the entire electorate.