Delhi Election: EC implements new technologies to ensure faster voter verification

Any election needs enthusiastic participation from its voters. However, not everyone is equally excited.

One of the deterring factors that keeps voters from casting their ballot are the long lines outside polling booths and the wait-time that comes with them.

As part of its responsibility to ensure the maximum voter turnout during the Delhi Assembly Elections 2020, the Election Commission of India (EC) will be using some innovative ICT mobile technologies to help voters jump the queue.

Here is how the recent innovations will help ensure faster voter verification and decrease the waiting time at the queues.

EC is embarking on innovative ICT mobile technologies to conduct the 2020 Delhi election

• Reducing the polling time

The Election Commission of India will use ICT Mobile technologies to perform the search of voters by Polling Staff, which is expected to reduce the polling time significantly.

• Marking voter attendance

Voter attendance will be marked with the help of a new mobile technology that will process the data offline. The pre-printed booth slip with the unique QR code will be scanned at the polling booth to mark the elector’s attendance for the voting. These arrangements will make it possible to obtain a real-time poll turnout for the information of the election officials and the general public.

• Informing the voters on the best time to vote

Through the process of marking the voters, ECI intends to let Artificial Intelligence (AI) make predictions about the status of the queues in the polling booths, which will be made available to the voters via the Voter Helpline Mobile app. Hence it is possible for an elector to decide on the best time to go for polling his or her vote.

How does the Booth App work

In order to coordinate between the three objectives listed above, the EC has launched a mobile application — the Booth App. This is a simplified mobile app that will be used by Booth Level Officers and Polling Staff. The EC has successfully tested this app at Hamirpur (UP) during the latest bye-elections. The pilot projects were also conducted during the Kasba Peth AC of Maharashtra, Samastipur PC of Bihar, and across 10 ACs in Jharkhand.

How voters can benefit from the Booth App

• Link your mobile phone with EPIC card on the Voter Helpline App.
• Download the Digital Photo Voter slip containing the QR code which you can use for the booth app.
• If you carry digital photo voter slip provided within the Voter Helpline App, you will be allowed to carry your mobile phone inside the polling booth— up to the point of the polling officer who is using the booth app. This way, you can use the digital photo voter slip instead of a printed copy.

Important Note:

In the upcoming Assembly Elections in Delhi, the Booth App will be utilized in select assembly constituencies of NCT of Delhi, not all.