Bihar Becomes First State in India to Introduce Mobile Phone Voting
Patna:
Bihar has become the first state in India to allow citizens to cast their votes using a mobile phone, State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad announced on Friday. This pioneering initiative will be implemented during municipal council elections scheduled for Saturday across six councils in Patna, Rohtas, and East Champaran districts.
The state is also gearing up for Assembly elections later this year, although it remains unclear whether the mobile voting facility will be extended to that exercise.
The mobile voting option is available to voters who are unable to visit polling stations due to various reasons, including physical disabilities, senior citizenship, pregnancy, or migration. Eligible voters must install the e-SECBHR app, currently compatible only with Android devices, and link it to their phone number registered in the electoral roll.
The app, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), ensures security and transparency. According to Prasad, only two registered voters can log in using a single mobile number, and every vote will be validated against individual voter IDs. An additional app has been created by the Bihar State Election Commission.
Those without access to mobile phones can still vote via the State Election Commission’s official website.
The awareness campaign for this initiative ran from June 10 to 22, and officials report that 10,000 voters have already registered for mobile voting. Around 50,000 are expected to vote through the website.
To maintain electoral integrity, robust digital security features have been incorporated, including blockchain technology, facial recognition, and scan-based verification. A digital audit trail, similar to the VVPAT system used with electronic voting machines in general and assembly elections, has also been put in place.
“This system is designed to be foolproof and tamper-resistant,” Prasad assured.
News Source : Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
