The Supreme Court on Monday asked Centre and the Election Commission (EC) to file response on a PIL seeking direction to the poll panel to enhance the counting of VVPAT from the current 10 per cent to 30 per cent for upcoming 2019 general elections.

The bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul issued the order.

According to a RTI reply filed in 2017, the EC stated that a total of 16,35,000 VVPAT units are required for the Lok Sabha Elections in 2019. Further, the EC stated that there are only 3 lakh VVPAT machines available for election purpose.

—India Legal Bureau