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Context:

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the post-election verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Background

Civil society groups, notably the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding 100% counting of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips to ensure that every vote cast on the EVM is correctly recorded on paper.

The Supreme Court's Verdict (April 2024) => The Court rejected the plea for 100% VVPAT counting, mentioning practical difficulties. However, as a midpoint and to strengthen confidence in the system, it introduced a new mechanism.

The New Mechanism => The Court ruled that candidates who finish in second and third place would have the right to request a verification of the "burnt memory" or microcontroller of up to 5% of the EVMs (including the Control Unit, Ballot Unit, and VVPAT) in their constituency after the results are declared.

Following the Supreme Court's order, the ECI formulated an initial SOP in June 2024. However, petitioners found it inadequate and approached the court again, and raised two main objections.

• Objection 1: Deletion of Data => The petitioners argued that the ECI's verification process involved deleting the poll data from the EVM's memory, which defeated the purpose of a genuine post-mortem check.
• Objection 2: Exclusion of the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU):

• What is an SLU? The SLU is a device used to load the names and symbols of candidates onto the VVPAT machine before the election.
• Why is it important? Activists have long argued that the SLU is a potential point of manipulation. They argued that any meaningful verification process must include an examination of the SLU to ensure that the correct symbols were loaded and that no tampering occurred at this stage.

Recent Developments

The Court's Intervention (February 2025) => The Supreme Court ordered the ECI not to delete the poll data during verification and to amend its SOP to include the SLU in the process.

In June 2025, ECI released a revised SOP, which includes the Supreme Court's directions and introduces more flexibility and transparency into the verification process.

Tiered Cost Structure => Previously, a candidate had to pay a flat fee of ₹47,200 for each EVM set they wanted checked. The new rule introduces a two-tier system:

• ₹23,600: For a preliminary "self-diagnostic test" of the machine.
• ₹47,200 (full fee): Only if the candidate decides to proceed to a full mock poll after the diagnostic test. This makes the initial step more affordable.

Inclusion of the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) => The new SOP offers the requesting candidate the option to use the data from the actual SLUs used in the election to conduct the mock poll, allowing for a more authentic recreation of the polling day setup.

Longer Data Retention => The records of the verification process, including the VVPAT slips and video footage, will now be stored for three months instead of the earlier one month. This provides a longer window for any potential follow-up legal challenges or reviews.

Source: 

INDIAN EXPRESS