Soon, you will be able to cast vote at e-kiosk
Next year on, voters in the city will be able to cast their votes through e-smart kiosks. The state election commission is studying possibilities of setting up such kiosks at various spots across the city wherein physically challenged, pregnant women, patients and voters interested to vote can register themselves and cast their votes. If all goes well, this system is likely to be in place before next year’s civic elections.
Next year on, voters in the city will be able to cast their votes through e-smart kiosks. The state election commission is studying possibilities of setting up such kiosks at various spots across the city wherein physically challenged, pregnant women, patients and voters interested to vote can register themselves and cast their votes. If all goes well, this system is likely to be in place before next year’s civic elections.
Similarly, the state election commission is also working on feature through which the voters will be informed if their votes have reached to the right candidate or not.
Electronic Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), the company that manufactures electronic voting machines (EVMs), has introduced a feature, wherein a printer attached to the voting machine will produce a strip after the vote has been cast. However, the voter will not get this strip; it will be collected in the sealed box attached below the printer for security reasons.
“It’s true that we end up losing a majority of voters such as pregnant women, patients, senior citizens, physically challenged, among others as they can’t personally visit the polling booth and exercise their franchise. This e-voting will enable such voters to exercise their franchise without any hassle. Voters interested to cast their votes online will have to register themselves with us, following which they will be issued a tamper-proof secure card. They will have to produce this card at the e-kiosks and cast their votes,” said Neela Satyanarayan, state election commissioner on Thursday.
Satyanarayan added, “Both these facilities are under consideration and will be implemented only after demonstrating them to political parties, government, the election commission of India, media and general public. The techniques would be incorporated only after they have been approved by all the above bodies.”
The state election commission will stick each a hologram sticker on each EVM after the voting process is over to make them safe and secure.
“In 2012 civic elections, we will use holograms on voting machines. Their numbers will be recorded on our servers. If any attempt to tamper or shift the machine is made, we will come to know about it almost immediately,” said the state election commissioner.