Ahead of the Gujarat assembly polls, a PIL was today filed in the Supreme Court challenging the discretionary power of a returning officer to refuse counting of the paper trail from the VVPAT machines.<br/><br/>A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to hear the matter and directed the petitioner, who claims to be<br/>the president of a Gujarat-based political party, to provide a copy of his plea to the Election Commission's (EC) counsel.<br/><br/>With the direction, the bench listed the matter for hearing on November 20.<br/><br/>The petitioner, Manubhai Chavada, has opposed Rule 56(D) (2) of the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961 which confers<br/>discretionary power on the returning officer, who conducts the election, to refuse counting of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).<br/><br/>Chavada, who claims to be the president of the Gujarat Jan Chetna Party, has contended that such a discretion was<br/>"ex-facie illegal, arbitrary and an infraction of the fundamental rights of the citizens. <br/><br/>The petition has also claimed that the paper used by the machine has a shelf life of a few months after which the printed matter on it fades away or disappears.