Digital revolution through smart polling in bihar

Patna: The Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of Bihar & State Election Commission (SEC), Bihar, conceptualized, executed and implemented Smart Polling Booth in Bihar’s Panchayat Election 2021.
Even after introduction of EVM (electronic Voting Machine) in the polling process, there has been myriad challenges which are still prevalent Hence SEC, Bihar, conceptualized a smart polling method with the help of Digital Technology & hence Smart Polling Booth came into existence as DIT executed the project successfully.
The Hon’ble Minister of Information Technology, Government of Bihar, Shri Jibesh Kumar, said “It is a remarkable achievement that Bihar has become the first state to launch and execute Smart Polling in Panchayat Election.”
He further added, by replacing the previous manual method with an electronic & Digital system that allows continence, this contactless digital platform will boost efficiency, transparency, and will eradicate any possible unfair means of voting.
The smart Polling booth has been designed to overcome the challenges of a conventional polling method where most of the things are done manually.
The prime objective of smart polling is to maintain the transparency & enable real time Tracking and reporting of the polling process The interactive MIS dashboard enables real time tracking which is one of the USPs of smart Polling.
So far the polling process has been a tiring job for polling officers & Election Commissions as it required tremendous amount of paper work & manpower also the manpower management was a daunting task. The counting of votes process which follows post the polling day was yet again a tedious task to perform. However, the Smart Polling as the name suggest has modified this conventional process to smart process and the voter identity verification is done through 2 step electronic and digital verification system which comprises of a biometric machine where the voter has to first enter the AADHAR card or Election I card Details and then place his/ her thumb on the biometric machine for image scan once the voter identity is verified he and she can move to the EVM section to cast their vote. This electronic verification process eliminates the possibility of bogus voting.
As far as counting of votes is concerned the AI (Artificial Intelligence) powered monitoring and OCR based vote counting makes the process smooth and discrepancy-free.
This Smart Polling Booth has not only simplified and eased off the process both for the voters and the officials on election duty but also has enabled transparency, real time tracking of polls and enhanced the efficiency and productivity of every individual associated with the process.