New Delhi, April 27 -- In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected all petitions seeking 100 per cent cross-verification of votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

Weighing in on the intensely debated issue that has long divided political parties, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta delivered two concurring verdicts in the matter, also rejected a demand to go back to ballot papers in elections. The order came on a day during the second phase of polling for 88 parliamentary seats in 13 States.

The Supreme Court's long anticipated verdict quickly found echo in the political landscape with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying at a rally in Araria ...