Lok Sabha polls: 1202 candidates in fray across 88 constituencies in Phase II
Over 15.88 crore voters will be determining the fate of 1202 candidates tomorrow in the second phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.
Election Commission of India (ECI), in partnership with Tamil Nadu e-governance Agency organized a webinar on “Technology aspects of remote voting: Exploring Blockchain” on Monday. The webinar brought together technologists, academicians, policy practitioners, cybersecurity experts from India and around the world.
The initial idea for using blockchain-based voting solution emerged from an initial discussion of Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, during his visit to Indian Institute of Technology, Madras on 30 October 2019.
Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra delivered the keynote address in the webinar. He stressed upon the importance of ensuring greater inclusiveness in elections. He emphasized that a large number of voters are unable to exercise their franchise on account of a geographical barrier.
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By virtue of occupation, education, medical treatment or other reasons, there have been instances of current residence of such electors being different from the place of registration in electoral rolls. Chandra, however, emphasised that in designing a technology-based solution, the primary consideration should be the ability to inspire trust of all stakeholders, assure the integrity of the electoral process and secrecy and inviolability of ballot.
Political parties, he felt, need to be reassured that the system is tamper-proof and secure. Remote voting marks a departure from conventional polling station which was tied to a geographical location, Chandra said. However, he clarified that the Commission is not envisioning internet-based voting from home. Remote voting project aspires for enablement of voters residing in remote locations, away from their designated polling stations to cast ballot in a secured fashion.
The webinar was convened by Deputy Election Commissioner Ashish Kundra, in-charge of the IT division, ECI as part of a wider consultation exercise with various stakeholders to dwell on different aspects of remote voting.
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