EC develops prototype of remote voting machine, invites parties for demonstration

New Delhi, Dec 29: The Election Commission on Thursday said it has developed a prototype of the remote electronic voting machine for domestic migrant voters and has invited political parties for a demonstration on January 16.

The poll panel has also floated a concept note on remote voting and sought the views of political parties on the legal, administrative and technical challenges in implementing it, according to a statement.

The multi-constituency remote EVM, developed by a public sector undertaking, can handle up to 72 constituencies from a single remote polling booth. ''After focus on youth and urban apathy, remote voting will be a transformational initiative for strengthening participation in electoral democracy,'' Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said.

The model has been prepared for the Election Commission of India by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) that will allow electors to vote from far away cities without going to the designated polling station of their respective constituencies via a blockchain system. In 2020, the poll body conducted several discussions and demonstrations with various state government, policy think tanks, and private industry stakeholders to explore the idea of a nationwide remote blockchain election system.

If the project is given the go-ahead by the ECI, changes to the election laws would be required for which the Law Ministry would be approached.

Countries such as the United States, Argentina, Russia, Estonia, Thailand and South Korea in the past have utilised the blockchain methods for conducting voting processes for their citizens, with a fair share of positives and negatives deriving consequentially.