Supreme Court declines to order any change to vote-counting process

New Delhi, April 26 : The Supreme Court on Friday declined to order any change to the vote-counting process in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, rejecting petitions to tally all paper slips generated as proof of voting for votes recorded by electronic voting machines.

The order comes days after India began voting in general elections on April 19, with votes due to be counted on June 4.

The Supreme Court, however, passed two directions for the Election Commission. The court said that after symbols are loaded into an EVM, the symbol loading unit should be sealed and secured in containers.

The candidates and their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the SLUs shall be kept in the storerooms along with the EVMs at least for 45 days after the declaration of results, the court said. (KNS)