In a first, Bihar mulls e-voting in municipal polls

Officials in the SEC said they have already held consultations with the CDAC , Hyderabad, for developing a software for implementing e-voting system, which would be a first-of-its-kind experiment in a state in any election.

The State Election Commission (SEC) in Bihar has started working on a proposal to introduce e-voting system in the upcoming urban polls in an effort to give voters, especially the elderly and those in government jobs posted away from home towns, an option to vote from remote places online, officials in the poll panel said.

In the panchayat polls in 2021, SEC had introduced biometric system for voters’ identification and also electronic voting machines to check rigging. (HT PHOTO)

Officials in the SEC said they have already held consultations with the CDAC ( Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), Hyderabad, for developing a software for implementing e-voting system, which would be a first-of-its-kind experiment in a state in any election.

CDAC is a research and development centre under the ministry of communication and information technology, Government of India.

Officials said the preliminary round of meeting on the proposal discussed how to make the system foolproof to check any kind of manipulation.

“A few points discussed are about ensuring that those exercising the online option vote without any influence and ensuring there is complete secrecy,” said an official in the SEC. “We also have to work out which kind of phones would be used for logging in online and servers to be used with technical team,” he said.

In the panchayat polls in 2021, SEC had introduced biometric system for voters’ identification and also electronic voting machines to check rigging.

“The CDAC team is working on their system and is is expected to give a demonstration to the SEC in Bihar before June 20. A final decision would be taken accordingly,” Sinha said.

He said the SEC was keen on introducing e-voting system in a bid to give voters an alternative option, especially the elderly, Covid patients and voters like teachers and government officials who work on election day at remote places and face difficulty in casting their votes. “The system would be introduced in a limited manner as the concept was very new,” he said.

Currently, the SEC is carrying out the delimitation of wards of newly constituted urban local bodies and also updating voters’ list ward-wise as part of the preparations for the municipal polls, though there is no clarity as to when the polls would be held.

The state government has not made its position clear so far on how it would fulfil the triple test criteria set by the Supreme Court for determining the backwardness of a caste group in a constituency and provision reservations for them accordingly.

Meanwhile, there was mixed verdict by political parties on e-voting proposal.

Opposition RJD’s state spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan said the system could have flaws and lead to manipulation and rigging. “It will be good that SEC maintains the conventional form of voting,” he said.

On the other hand, Nikhil Anand, state BJP spokesperson, said the proposal was a welcome step and would not only help the physically disabled and elderly to vote easily but also help in achieving 100 per cent voting in local bodies’ elections.