Blog: How about “ Sandbox for Mobile Voting “ ?

Context :

PM pushes for simultaneous polls / Business Line – 27 Nov 2020

Extract :

One nation-one election is the need of the hour, says PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday once again pushed for one nation-one election and suggested that the Election Commission prepares a single voters’ list for the Lok Sabha, Assembly and Panchayat polls because separate lists are a “waste of resources”.

‘Need of the hour’

Addressing the concluding session of All India Presiding Officers Conference, Modi called for simultaneous elections and common voters’ list at every level — from Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabhas to the local Panchayats.

He said digital innovations in the fields of legislatures should be taken up in real earnest for this.

“One nation-one election is not just a matter of debate, it is the need of the hour. Elections are held at different places every few months. The effect it has on development work is known to all. The issue needs to be studied and presiding officers can the guiding force for it,” said the PM.

Administration support

The issue of simultaneous elections has been flagged on many occasions by the PM himself. It gained traction after the NITI Aayog prepared a working paper on the subject in January, 2017.

The Election Commission too has been largely supportive of the view and the discussions have been around synchronising assembly polls where the schedules overlap or are in proximity.

However, the Opposition is against this view.

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Dear Shri Narendrabhai,

Indian voters have been happily using electronic EVM for voting for many years now – without complaint. Nothing parallel exists anywhere in the World. We pioneered this process ( compare with what just happened in USA )

Even those few political parties which, at first, refused to accept EVM, have now no complaint about their efficacy

If we can convince the opposition that Mobile-based voting is,

Ø Totally reliable and

Ø The process cannot be tampered with,

then there is a good chance that they will accept a Mobile-based Voting – which will pave the way for

“ One Nation One Poll / Simultaneous Elections “

To convince the opposition what we need to do is a small trial – a small experiment – in a small bye-election – in a small constituency – having a small number of voters

An experiment where both of the following “ voting methods “ will be employed simultaneously :

Ø Physical EVM based voting in a physical booth ( marking with indelible ink )

Ø Mobile App based voting from voter’s home ( using biometric IDs of finger – iris- facial recognition of Selfie )

Voters will have following options :

Ø Only vote from a polling booth

Ø Only vote from home , using Mobile App

Ø Use both methods , physical voting in booth, followed by Mobile voting from home

Basis for declaring the Winner :

Ø Only votes polled at physical booth will be considered for declaration of Winner

This assurance will get us the “ Buy-in “ of the Opposition to this experiment

Then, what is the purpose of Mobile-based voting ?

Ø It will enable us to compare the “ votes polled “ under each method

Ø This analysis will tell us how many voters ( but not “Who “) , voted using which method

Ø Time-series will tell us which method was used ( preferred ) at what time of the day

Ø Did Mobile based votes were a result of people who otherwise could not have voted ( Lost Votes ) , being many kilometers away from their designated polling booth ?

Ø If number of voters who used mobile was TWICE / THRICE the number of those who went to polling booth, then can we conclude that people hate trudging down to polling booth and spend hours standing in a queue ?

Ø Do the Winner come out to be the same candidate, under both voting methods ? If yes, very assuring !

How will we know if Voters who used Mobiles were not coerced / influenced by party workers ?

Ø NaviC based GPS will tell us where precisely that mobile phone was exactly when vote was cast

Ø It will also tell us ( Heat Map ? ) whether many other mobile phones were nearby at that moment ( eg: local office of political parties )

How can we conduct such a small-scale experiment , without disturbing EVM-based voting ?

Ø By creating ( what I call ) a “ Mobile Voting Sandbox “

Any current example of such a controlled “ Experimental set-up “ to gather evidence of efficacy of a method ?

Ø Yes. The National Digital Health Mission has created such a SANDBOX

How does it work ?

Ø Read : Accelerating Digital Health Innovation / Eco Times – 26 Nov 2020

Extract :

# NDHM has created a “sandbox “that enables technologies or products to be tested in a contained environment

and duration – subject to NDHM standards and oversight – and judge the consumer and market reactions to the

same

# The sandbox will facilitate integration of current systems and IT platforms in healthcare with NDHM building

blocks namely , Health ID, Doctors’ and Health Facility Registries, and Patient Health Records

# At its core, the sandbox has been created with the objective to foster RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION in Health

Tech Services, promote efficiency and bring benefit to consumers

# The sandbox brings together healthcare and health tech service providers, centrally and state run public health

programmes , software providers, healthcare aggregators, tech companies to TEST and INTEGRATE their

products and services with NDHM

# The NDHM sandbox is founded on the idea that the government, private sector and citizen need to work

together as partner to solve the problem of healthcare. It will enable “ learning by doing “ on all sides

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What features should be built into the “ Mobile Voting Sandbox “ ?

Ø Central Election Commission ( CEC ) to get the Mobile App developed and oversee its working

Ø CEC to declare ( 2 months in advance ) date of Bye Election for a given constituency

Ø Mobile App will work on that date only and between 8am – 6pm only

Ø On that date, at 6pm. it will self-destruct automatically, even if not used

Ø If used, App will self-destruct immediately after transmitting the data to the Central Server of CEC

Ø Although a voter can vote once again from his Mobile AFTER he has already voted from physical booth, it will NOT be possible to do other way around ( ie:, he cannot first vote from mobile and then go to booth for voting ).

Ø As soon as a voter has voted from booth, EVM will immediately transmit his vote ( candidate selected ) to the Central Server of CEC

Ø Now , if he has voted for candidate XYZ ( belonging to BJP ) in booth, then after going home , he cannot vote ( select ) candidate LMJ ( belonging to Congress ) , from his Mobile App . If he does, Server / App will not let him click “ SUBMIT “ .

This is safeguard is essential to ensure that voters do not play mischief / confuse CEC, by voting for different candidates, using different voting methods ! Server will allow him to proceed ONLY if he selects the SAME candidate ( XYZ ) , on his Mobile App

Ø A voter ( from the declared constituency ) can download the Mobile App ( only once ) , from the website of CEC , by filling in an online form where he will need to establish without doubt that , he is a genuine voter belonging to that particular constituency ( Voter ID – PAN – Aadhar – Sefie – Mobile No. etc ). Server will ensure that no one, other than a voter belonging to that particular constituency, will be able to download the App

Ø Voting data generated using Mobile App , shall NOT be published till the CEC declares the Winner based on EVM based voting ( no exit pole – no prejudging – no confusion – no mischief ! )

Ø However, once the Winner is declared , data from both methods of voting will be published on CEC website ( of course , without in any way, revealing the identity of any voter )

Ø The entire METHODOLOGY of “ Mobile Voting Sandbox “, must be widely publicized on CEC website / other Govt websites / Social Media sites / News Papers / TV channels etc., in order to establish its TRANSPARENCY / RELIABILITY among general public and among political parties.

Ø Govt may consider inviting comments / suggestions from public on CEC portal

Any suggestion re: conceptual frame-work for such a Mobile App ?

Ø Yes. Please refer to my following email :

VotesApp [ 18 Dec 2012 ]

Have I followed this up with other e-mails ?

Ø Sure. Keep clicking on :

2020

# First Step to VotesApp ? [24 Jan 2020 ]