On Saturday (28th June), Bihar became the first State to launch e-voting facilities on mobile phone applications in municipal bodies elections and by-polls.
Polls were held in 6 Nagar Panchayats and 36 municipal bodies of Bihar. E-voting is done by installing an E-SECBHR app which is currently available only for Android users.
One needs to enter their mobile phone number as registered in the electoral roll into the app.
After verification, the user can cast vote. Allaying the concerns of tampering, Bihar State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad said that efforts have been made to make the e-voting process transparent and smooth.
E-voting has been made available for people who are unable to reach the polling booths on election day. “This facility is for those unable to reach the polling station due to physical or locational reasons… like senior citizens, disabled persons, those who are pregnant and migrant voters,” Prasad said.
The safety measures in the e-voting app include, allowing only two voters to log in using one mobile number, verification of each voter using voter ID number, use of blockchain technology to record votes in a secure, immutable system, and facial recognition and matching assist features for the verification of voter indentities at the time of login and voting.
Till 27th June, around 10,000 voters had reportedly registered on the e-voting app.
