Pune: IN a major development which has come as a blow to the opposition parties in the country, the Supreme Court today expressed its support to the electronic voting machines (EVMs). The opposition in the country has been demanding that instead of EVMs, elections should be conducted on ballot papers.

The apex court today rejected a petition which sought 100 per cent verification of votes cast on EVMs using the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)

The apex court rejected the petition after considering all the protocols and technical aspects.

''Blindly showing distrut in a system can lead to unwarranted suspicions,'' the SC said.

The SC however told the Election Commission that after it completes the loading of symbols into the EVMs, the Symbol Loading Unit should be sealed and stored for a period of 45 days. The party symbols are stored 4MB flash memory.

 The court said the containers containers Symbol Loading Units should be sealed and then signed by candidates. They should be kept in the storerooms.

The SC also directed the Election Commisison to ensure that the burnt memory in the EVM microcontroler must be checked by a team of engineers after the results are declared and if candidates make a request to this effect. The request by the candidates who have lost must be made within seven days of the result. The candidates themselves will have to bear the expenses for the process.

The apex court in its ruling also recommended the possibility of using a mchine to count VVPAT slips. The court said if the discrepancies are found, the paper slips can be cross-checked against the votes recorded electronically to come to the conclusion whether the declared result is valid.

Reacting to the SC verdict, Sanjay Raut, Sena MP, said,''We are disappointed by the apex court verdict. There was an outcry from the people and the court must have gone deeply into the issue.''