Reading the recent news about political parties demanding a simpler, more transparent electoral roll process and the immediate publication of Form 17C data by the Election Commission (News on AIR) feels like a familiar echo from the past.
These calls for transparency are not new grievances; they are fundamental requirements for a democracy to function and, more importantly, to be trusted by its citizens. The opacity of electoral rolls and the delay in publishing critical voting data only serve to fuel suspicion and erode faith in the very foundation of our governance. Why should something as crucial as the precise count of votes cast be a matter of debate or delayed disclosure?
This brings to mind my own persistent advocacy for leveraging technology to overhaul our electoral systems. It's a topic I've revisited time and again over the years. In fact, a quick search of my own archives reveals that I've written on the subjects of Elections (119 blogs) and Electoral Reforms (25 blogs) quite extensively, as I catalogued a few years ago in a post about Simplifying Search on my blog.
The core idea I want to convey is this — I have been thinking about these challenges for a long time. I had previously explored the concept of a digital census app as a precursor to a comprehensive 'VotesApp' (Proposed modification of hemenparekh.ai). My vision was not merely for a voting machine, but for a fully transparent, end-to-end digital framework where data, from voter registration to the final count, is seamless, verifiable, and instantly accessible to the public in a secure manner.
Seeing these demands surface now validates the urgency of those earlier ideas. The current friction is a direct result of clinging to outdated, manual, and opaque processes in an era where digital transparency is not a luxury but a necessity. The immediate publication of Form 17C shouldn't require a demand from political parties; in a well-designed digital system, it would be an automated, real-time event.
We have the technological capability to build systems that are not only efficient but also inherently transparent. The challenge isn't a technical one; it is a challenge of will and imagination. It's time to move beyond incremental fixes and fundamentally redesign the process to be digital-first, transparent-by-default, and built for the 21st century citizen.
Regards,
Hemen Parekh
Of course, if you wish, you can debate this topic with my Virtual Avatar at : hemenparekh.ai
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