Poll body mulls online route to encourage young voters

The Delhi State Election Commission has submitted a proposal to the state government, seeking its approval to start conducting trials for its online voting facility to attract young voters. If the proposal gets the government’s go-ahead, citizens will be able to elect their Municipal representatives by participating in online polling. 

The Municipal elections are scheduled to be held next year.

Senior officials from the State Election Commission said: “We have submitted a proposal regarding this to the Delhi government and are awaiting its nod. Once implemented, people will be able to cast their votes using their smartphones and laptops – right from the comfort of their homes, which would not require them to go to the polling station to cast their franchise.”

According to officials at the Election Commission, the move aims to attract a greater number of young voters without making them visit polling booths. 

“Youths in urban areas don’t like to go to polling stations and stand in long queues. So, they skip voting, which is very important. In order to give them the taste of technology and the comfort of voting from their drawing rooms, we are planning to introduce online voting,” an official of the State Election Commission said.

With the Aadhaar Bill being passed in the Lok Sabha and on its way to being legalised, the online voting system would be linked to one’s Aadhaar card. 

“Voters wanting to go for online polling will have to register themselves online, which will link them with their Aadhaar cards. This will be done to check fictitious or double voting. Once the voter registers online, they will be given a One Time Password (OTP) and a unique user ID, which would be deactivated as soon as s/he casts her/his vote,” he added.

The poll body is also developing a software that will track and monitor all online voting in real time to check fraud or malpractices. However, physical polling booths will also be there, as people who do not prefer voting online can have the option to exercise their franchise physically.