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Timeline · India · 9 events

EVMs and VVPATs: how India votes

From a trial in one Kerala constituency in 1982 to machines in every polling station — and the court cases along the way.

  1. May 1982
    The first trial

    Electronic voting machines are used in 50 polling stations of the Paravur assembly constituency in Kerala.

  2. 1984
    The result is set aside

    The Supreme Court sets aside the Paravur result because the law did not yet provide for voting machines; the affected booths vote again on paper.

  3. 1988
    The law is changed

    Parliament amends the Representation of the People Act to allow voting machines (Section 61A).

  4. November 1998
    A wider trial

    Machines are used in 16 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

  5. 2004
    Every Lok Sabha seat

    For the first time, voting machines are used in all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.

  6. September 2013
    The paper trail arrives

    The VVPAT, which prints a slip the voter can see, is first used in the Noksen by-election in Nagaland.

  7. 8 October 2013
    The court asks for paper trails

    The Supreme Court says a paper trail is needed for free and fair elections and asks for VVPATs to be introduced in phases.

  8. 8 April 2019
    Five machines per segment

    The Supreme Court orders VVPAT slips to be counted in five randomly chosen polling stations in each assembly segment, up from one.

  9. 26 April 2024
    No return to paper ballots

    The Supreme Court rejects pleas to count every VVPAT slip or return to ballot papers, and lets candidates who come second or third ask for the memory of some machines to be checked.

Sources

  1. Election Commission of India
  2. Supreme Court of India