The Election Commission has collaborated with IIT Madras to work on a new technology which will allow electors to vote from far away cities without going to the designated polling station of their respective constituencies, a senior poll panel official has said.
The project pf election commission is at present in the research and development stage with an aim to develop a prototype, another official said. Explaining the ‘blockchain’ technology involved in the project, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said the concept is a “two-way electronic voting system, in a controlled environment, on white-listed IP devices on dedicated internet lines, enabled with biometric devices and a web camera“.
He, however, made it clear that voters will have to reach a designated venue during a pre-decided period of time to be able to use this facility. It does not mean voting from home, Saxena explained, which is “anytime-anywhere-any device” and would require some more time and technological advancement.
Here’s how ‘blockchain’ technology will work:
He, however, made it clear that voters will have to reach a designated venue during a pre-decided period of time to be able to use this facility. It does not mean voting from home, Saxena explained, which is “anytime-anywhere-any device” and would require some more time and technological advancement.
Explaining the technicalities, the Senior Deputy Election Commissioner told PTI that the “two-way blockchain remote voting” process would involve voter identification and authorisation using a multi-layered IT-enabled system working on the EC’s e-Governance award-winning Electoral Registration Officer Network (ERO Net) using biometrics and web cameras.
After a voter’s identity is established by the system, a blockchain-enabled personalised e-ballot paper (Smart Contract) will be generated.
When the vote is cast (Smart Contract executed), the ballot would be securely encrypted and a blockchain hashtag (#) will be generated. This hashtag notification would be sent to various stakeholders, in this case–the candidates and political parties, the official said.
A bill to allow proxy voting for overseas Indians had lapsed following the dissolution of the previous Lok Sabha. The Law Ministry had also recently tweaked election rules to allow One Way Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), enabling service voters consisting of personnel belonging to the armed forces, central paramilitary forces and central government officers deployed at Indian missions abroad, to get their postal ballots electronically. They have to fill up the ballot papers and post them back.
