Blog: Controlling Crowds at Election Rallies ?

Context :

Webcasting to chatbot help: Goa polls set to go high-tech / HT / 27 Dec 2021

Extract :

Two systems, designed by the state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) and IIT, are ready for deployment during polling -- VoterDost ( Chat Bot system for Answering FAQs ) and Election Eye, a computer vision based webcasting data analytics system.

“Webcasting of all polling station is undertaken as an additional measure to monitor the polling process. The Election Eye system has been designed to capture real time information from webcasting feeds on computer vision technology.

“It will help in getting real-time alerts to the election authorities towards incidents such as crowding inside polling stations, if any, and also to get queue monitoring outside polling stations,” CEO Kunal said, adding, “This is the first time it is being used.” [ ceo_goa@eci.gov.in ]

Professor Sharad Sinha, [ sharad@iitgoa.ac.in ],

who has worked on the project, said the Election Eye concept is a pilot project which will ensure web casting of on-going polling. “We take video feeds that are not in public domain to analyse how many people are around the polling area to ensure there is no overcrowding,” he said.

“The system does not use make use of attentive manpower but AI-based models to recognise people, not who they are, but how many people,” Sinha said.

He added that real-time thresholds will ensure there is no crowding in polling stations. “The project is scalable is and can be implemented across the country,” he mentioned.

More than 1,000 polling stations are likely to be set up in the state but the project will focus on 100-200 camera feeds (every polling station will have two cameras — one outside and one in the booth).

VoterDost, on the other hand, is a Telegram-based Chatbot system that will serve as a one-stop contact point for handling common queries of voters in availing various electoral services and answering queries with automated responses on various topics of election management like Model Code of Conduct, location of polling station based on EPIC, EVM-VVPAT features etc.

MY TAKE :

Dear Shri Kunal / Prof Sinha,

Conratulations for VoterDost and ElectionEye innovations

You may want to consider my suggestions sent through e-mail to our Cabinet Ministers :

[ A ]…….. For Crowd Control ( ElectionEye )

Engineering of Social Distancing …………………..[ 21 April 2020 ]

Extract :

# Number of persons inside a mall (or any store within a mall ) to be

restricted below 1 for every 100 sq ft of Floor space

# Store doors and Mall Entrance to integrate laser beams which get

interrupted when someone enters / leaves .

Embedded software will count each entry / exit ( cumulative ADD /

SUBTRACT ).

As soon as specified LIMIT ( for the number of occupants inside ) is

reached, interlocked doors will refuse to open !

# This combination of hardware and software will also display outside the

DOOR / GATE :

- RED lamp ( to indicate full occupancy )/ GREEN lamp ( to indicate

some vacancy )

- DIGITAL SIGN-BOARD indicating “ No of Vacancies inside , right

now “

# At the Mall Entrance, visitors will be made to wear a suspended NECK –

TAG , which will be TIME- STAMPED ( 20 minutes inside a store / 2 hours

inside Mall ).

It will glow RED , if these time-limits are Exceeded ( Sensors embedded

within TAG will get activated by the laser beams )

# Above-mentioned “ functionalities “ could also be achieved through a

Mobile App [ KeepAway ? ]

[ B ] For Voter Queries ( VoterDost )

Filtering Candidate Information ?.............................. [ 18 Sept 2016 ]

Extract :

Would voters be enthused to come forward to vote, if

# Latest info about ALL of those candidates was available at finger-tips on

his Mobile ( authenticated by Election Commission ), eliminating hours of

" searching " on the Net and hours of " filtering "

# That info would comprise,

* Affidavit filed by the Candidates

* Police Record including cases filed / pending / disposed off , against the

candidates

* Past political history ( no of political parties changed )

* Director-ship ( direct / indirect ) in private businesses and NPA of those

businesses

* Results of open Surveys on " ROMP - RecallOur Member of Parliament "

* Whether the candidate has accepted to implement the " Charter of

Demand " ( if elected ) , submitted and uploaded by the Voters of his

Constituency on the web site of the Election Commission

# He can vote directly from his Mobile , without having to go to a Polling Booth

and spend 4 hours

# He can take 5 minutes to cast his vote, sitting in his bedroom , without holding

up other voters in the queue

# He can vote at any time of the voting day and from any place on the earth !

# And get to know the very next morning , who got elected

YES , of course ! And voter turn-out would be 95 % !

HOW ?

By implementing , "VotesApp "

( a Mobile App which , effectively shrinks a bulky, common , special purpose Electronic Voting Machine - EVM - into a tiny, personally-owned , versatile Mobile )

ANY BYE-PRODUCT ?

Sure,

Central Government , can earn Rs 20,000 crores , by enabling 15 million Indian businesses to advertise to 850 million voters thru this mobile VotesApp , sharply targeting by Gender / Age / Marital Status / City / Street / Education / Income Tax paid / Employed or Jobless ....etc

===================================================

Dear Chief Election Commissioner,

Within the next few months, elections of State Assemblies are due in 5 States

Every election means gathering of CROWDS :

Ø Large crowds ( lakhs of persons ) at election rallies ( spread over many weeks )

Ø Small crowds ( few dozen persons ) at polling booths ( on 1 / 6 days, statewise )

A couple of days back, you already had a meeting with the Central Health Secretary to discuss the impact such crowding can have on the possible rapid spread of OMICRON virus . Should that happen, thousands may die

We must ask ourselves :

Ø Why can elections not be postponed by a few months ? – even by amending our Constitution , if required ?

Ø If, for whatever “ inhuman “ argument / “ twisted “ logic, postponement is not possible, then how about holding VIRTUAL ( DIGITAL ) elections , where :

# Total ban on physical rallies ( all campaigning through Mobiles-Tablets-

PCs-TVs , using ZOOM – Holograms etc )

# Voting through use of a Mobile App ( VotesApp ) ?

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 29 Dec 2021

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