Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission to clarify the life span of the thermal images on the VVPAT printouts and its response to the petitions filed by three Congress contestants who sought manual counting of the VVPAT paper trial.
A division bench was dealing the petitions of Congress leaders Malreddy Ranga Reddy (Ibrahimpatnam), Padmavathi Uttam Kumar Reddy (Kodad) and Addanki Dayakar (Tungaturthy) who lost to their TRS rivals.
The bench directed the EC to submit its reply to the contentions of the petitioner and to explain the life span of the thermal image on the VVPAT slops by February 7. It said the petitioners must submit their reply to the EC’s explanation by February 14. The court sought a written submission on the life span of the thermal image when EC counsel Avinash Desai orally submitted that it would stay for five years and more, and the print would not be fade in one or two months as stated by the contestants. Mr Desai said the VVPAT slips of all Assembly polls had been preserved in the prescribed manner, polling station-wise.
