“Every elections is determined by the people who show up “–
Larry J Sabato
Elections is an important process in any democratic country.
Right to Vote is an important right to given to any Indian who turns 18, which
should be exercised. However we see from the voter turnout elections after
elections is that this right is not fully utilized by all of us. There are many
reasons to this.
In India, there are many types of elections. Indians vote in
General elections to elect the Members of Parliament, in assembly elections,
they elect the Members of State Legislative assembly, in Panchayat and City
Corporation elections, the Panchayat and Corporation members are elected. There
are also By-elections which is conducted if the earlier elected representative couldn’t
continue for the term. With these many elections happening, the migrant
community of Indians both inside and outside of India may not be in a position
to travel back every time for exercising their right.
India witnessed one of the largest General elections in
2019, and with each passing elections, it is becoming bigger. An eye popping
statistics below (credit Wikipedia)
- Elections was conducted in 7 phases
- 911 million people were eligible
- Overall voter turnout was 67 %, which was highest
- Highest ever participation by women
- A total of 3.96 million EVM in 1,035,918 polling stations was used
- Approximately 270,000 paramilitary & 2 million state police personnel provided security for this mammoth polls
Despite such elaborate provisioning only 67 % voted. I
belong to the 33 % of voters who didn’t exercise my right. I was outside India
and couldn’t fly to vote. Many like me, who still respect the electoral system
are left out of this festivity due to not having alternate provision.
A very few percentage of Indians have the options to cast their
vote through postal system, which now being extended by an amendment of
Election rules, 1961. This will allow, any citizen aged above 65 years and
those infected with Coronavirus/suspected of having the infection can vote by
postal ballot. State of Bihar, could see this amended rule being implemented,
as otherwise they would need more booths and personnel to conduct a fair and
social distancing adhering poll to ensure the safety of the people.
This news along with the news title “How Estonia’s digital
society became a lifeline during COVID -19” took me back to year 2007, when I was
in my final year of Engineering.
As part of degree, we are supposed to do a project
showcasing our ability in engineering. I like many other graduates, approached
a project centre for help. My project coordinator presented with a catalogue of
ideas for the project, from which one idea caught my attention. “Online Voting
using Fingerprint Sensor”, on enquiry I understood that apart from sensor
nothing else relates to my field of specialization. I was somewhat fixed and couldn’t
think of any other idea for doing the project. I, after couple of days thinking
and convincing my project team and department staff went ahead with this idea. I
was proud of the output and as a team we could successfully demonstrate the
working model to the external supervisor to pass the degree. Like many ideas
turned projects, this didn’t see any further light as I moved on with life, but
to be honest every now and then I think of this.
After the success story of Estonia and current trend of
seeing anything and everything being moved to digital platform, I see a ray of
hope for my project and if this article could catch the attention of any influential
think-tank or the election commission , I see myself voting from anywhere in
the world for electing my representative to power.
By deploying such digital system, there are many advantages
- Countries can gives its eligible citizens a chance to participate in the electoral process
- Reduces the physical infrastructure required for conducting polling
- Reduced timeline/phases for conducting polling
- Reduced personnel and cost
- Ensure free and fair elections
This system being digital has an eminent risk, which is the
possibility of hacking by exploiting the flaws of the system, however this can
be overcome by tightening the system and
even if such hacks happen, the possibility of identifying and re-conducting of
polls can be done easily and quickly
My project was only built to be accessed from computer,
which can be enhanced for mobile version. My project worked on the principle of
recognising the finger print of the voter and displaying the candidates list of
his/her constituency and recording the vote. All that is possible today, as
Election commission can utilise the UIDAI database which is being used by the
government for various other schemes. Any organisation, which employees more
than 10 should make provision to allow their employees to cast their vote. Election
commission with a period of time, can create confidence in the system and
thereby allowing even individuals sitting at home vote, just like today how
they are doing transactions in banks and ordering food. You still may not
achieve 100 % turnout, but you give opportunity for citizen like me to exercise
their rights.
