The Election Commission has built a prototype of a remote electronic voting system (RVM) for domestic migrant voters in order to increase voter participation and has invited political parties to a demonstration on January 16. If these recommendations are followed, migrant voters will no longer need to go to their home districts to exercise their right to vote.
Officials with the Election Commission described the counting of votes cast at remote booths and their transmission to the returning officer in other states as a “technological challenge,”
The RVMs will be created as “a durable, fail-proof, and efficient stand-alone system” based on current electronic voting machines and will not be connected to the Internet, according to the statement.
The EC stated that it will suitably continue ahead the process of establishing remote voting based on input from stakeholders and display of the prototype.
The poll panel also circulated a concept note on remote voting and solicited input from political parties on the administrative, legal, and technological problems associated with its implementation.
According to a poll monitor statement, the multi-constituency remote EVM built by a public sector venture can manage up to 72 constituencies from a single distant voting station. “After focusing on young and urban indifference, remote voting will be a revolutionary move for improving electoral democracy,” stated Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
Mr Kumar’s commission, along with election commission Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, “has now explored the option of employing a modified version of the time-tested model of M3 (Mark 3) EVMs to enable voting at remote polling stations — polling stations outside home constituency, for household migrants” in order to find a technical solution that is credible, accessible, and acceptable to all stake – holders.
The EC stated that it has asked all eight recognised national and 57 state political parties to test the operation of the multi-constituency prototype RVM on January 16. Members of the commission’s Technical Expert Committee will be in attendance as well.
The EC stated that it has asked all eight recognised national and 57 state political parties to test the operation of the multi-constituency prototype RVM on January 16. Members of the commission’s Technical Expert Committee will be in attendance as well.
The panel also requested written comments from recognised political parties by January 31 on a variety of connected matters, including legislative amendments, administrative procedures, and voting techniques for domestic migrants.
Former CEC S.Y. Quraishi called this a “great effort” and applauded the commission’s decision to invite political parties to a demonstration of a prototype remote electronic voting machine for domestic migrant voters. ”
I think it’s a fantastic concept since the issue of migrant voters has been raging for a long time and we have yet to find a solution.”
He thought it was a good idea to solicit feedback from all recognised national and state parties.
The Congress Party, on the other hand, stated that, despite their widespread usage, EVMs have sparked great controversy in India, and concerns about their abuse have not been adequately addressed. According to Jairam Ramesh, the AICC’s general secretary (communication), the party has previously made constructive ideas to increase faith in the voting process by increasing the number of stations where Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail slips are counted. This, too, has been rejected. “We encourage the Election Commission to rebuild trust in the electoral system via openness and open conversation with the concerns of the opposition,” he added.
The European Commission has created a remote voting mechanism for migrant voters.
