The Supreme Court today asked the Election Commission of India to file an affidavit on procurement of paper trail equipment for use with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).<br/><br/>The direction came after senior counsel P Chidambaram, appearing for the Bahujan Samaj Party, referred to media reports and said the Centre has sanctioned funds for procurement of voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT).<br/><br/>The Union Cabinet had last month cleared ECI's proposal for 3,174 crore rupees to procure the VVPAT equipments for use in the future elections.<br/><br/>During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P S Narsimha told the apex court that funds have been cleared for procuring VVPAT. However, the bench said, petitioners want to know the amount given and when will it be used. The court listed matters in the third week of July and asked the ASG to file counter affidavit in the meantime.<br/><br/>The apex court is hearing two petitions, including the one filed by Mayawati-led BSP. The party has claimed large scale tampering of EVMs after the drubbing in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. <br/><br/>The apex court on April 13 had sought responses from the Centre and ECI on the pleas challenging the use of EVMs without paper trail.