(20th February) GS 2: Gujarat Election Commission is offering the option of online voting. Discuss
Gujarat Election Commission is offering the option of online voting. “This is a one of its kind project in Asia. No other election commission in India is offering this,” said M V Joshi, Secretary, Gujarat Election Commission.
Discuss. How it will change the future voting system in India and will it be useful or there are chances of misuse ??
Article Ref : After compulsory voting, Gujarat now offers the online option
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Online elections are potentially the way of the future and hold the capacity to spin world as we know it on its axis. The major advantages will be:
1) ease of casting the vote. It is easier to cast a vote from the comforts of one’s home than visiting a booth which might or might not be accessible easily.
2) people whose vote is one constituency and who are temporarily residing in other places can easily cast their vote without ichthyosis hassle.
3) it will save a working day for most people as the time taken for the process will be exponentially reduced.
4) this will also ensure greater transparency in the system of election.
5) results of the vote can be declared sooner and this will save precious time consumed before formation of the government.
On the other hand there are various difficulties in ensuring that this becomes a viable project.
1) enduring that facilities to undertake such a massive process happens will be difficult. Not only will the software creation be a massive task, hardware assimilation and innovation will be on an unprecedented scale.
2) in a country like India where Internet availability to majority of the population is dicey the process will marginalise them. This will a blow to inclusive development.
3) Internet literacy is at its infancy in India yet so this will further marginalise the urban poor who might have access to Internet
Though there might be difficulties in the execution of the project, it is a welcome step in inclusive development as it will cause a majority of population to gain access to the information highway which can only pave way to development.
The decision of the Gujarat EC should be welcome by one and all. What is does is:
1. It ensures India’s commitment to Digital India Initiative.
2. It provides people with another option to cast their vote, very relevant to the modern and changing society.
3. It is easier, more accessible and more people friendly. It is always preferred if you can vote from the comfort of your room, and do not have to stand in a queue for hours.
Importantly, hacking of such sites leading to multiple votes from a single account have to be prevented. This needs strong firewalls on the online sites. This is quite challenging in a time when hacking professional become the new ‘cool’.
There are so many uses by using online voting. Like govt. Money nd precious time also will be safe. But we have to careful about hacking like problems.