ECI booth app likely to be used in Bengal polls to root out

The Election Commission of IndiaECI is likely to use its booth mobile application in afull-fledged manner during the upcoming assembly elections inWest Bengal to root out bogus electors, prevent duplication ofvoting and quickly bring out details of the polling process,an official said on Tuesday.If introduced, West Bengal will be the first state touse the application in a full-fledged manner during anelection process.Its in the planning stage.

The Election Commission of India(ECI) is likely to use its booth mobile application in afull-fledged manner during the upcoming assembly elections inWest Bengal to root out bogus electors, prevent duplication ofvoting and quickly bring out details of the polling process,an official said on Tuesday.

If introduced, West Bengal will be the first state touse the application in a full-fledged manner during anelection process.

''It's in the planning stage. Nothing has beenfinalised yet. We hope this will help us conduct free and fairpolls,'' the ECI official said.

The official said that the application is connected tothe central ECI server and transmits data in an encryptedmanner.

''It gives information on gender-wise and age-wisepolling, speed of the polling process and other election-related events,'' he said.

''There will encrypted QR codes on photo voters slips,which will be scanned before allowing the voter to enter thebooth. The codes will be scanned for the second time beforevoters exercise their franchise.

''The moment the voter casts his/her vote, the datawill get transmitted to the ECI server, enabling the returningofficer to view information on real-time voter turnout andother poll-related events,'' the official said.

The system will not only speed up the polling processbut also ensure correct entries, he said.

''The booth application, capable of auto-detectingduplicate entries, will alert the polling official with a loudsound on his/her mobile phone,'' the official said.

The application was pilot launched in five pollingstations in Uttar Pradesh, three in Maharashtra, Bihar andPunjab and then in 10 seats in Jharkhand in November 2019.

Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly aredue in April-May.