When can India adopt an online voting system at national and state elections?
Online voting is a system that technologically helps various organizations to create and manage their own elections without spending a fortune and in much less time. Worldwide many corporate companies, NGOs, Clubs, and local governments have adopted this new technology of voting and got benefited extensively. The system is completely computer-based and there is no requirement for human involvement. The secrecy of the voters remains unaltered, resulting in much reliable and unbiased voting results. As the technology of eVoting is reaching new dimensions, India as a developing country has finally started to acknowledge its benefits.
Online Elections in India:
Since the beginning of the century, India has been relying on EVMs (Electronic Voting Machine) for its state and central assembly elections. Apart from the governments, most of the corporates and other organizations have been still using the age-old paper ballot system of voting for their required elections. As technology is improving each passing day, India also is looking for an alternate election system. The EVM means of voting is costly and takes a lot of time to conclude an election. Privacy and secrecy also get compromised in the process.
To save time and to make the entire process more secure, India has been looking to adopt a system that would solve all of these problems. After the pandemic situation when social distancing became an important issue, the idea of online voting came in as a blessing. It will help the voters to vote from the comfort of their own houses, without standing in queues for hours. But implementing a new system is never an easy task. There are multiple problems that need to be resolved before implementing mobile voting in India.
Here are three of the most important things the Indian government should consider before implementing online elections in the state and central elections.
Unavailability of the Internet:
India is slowly moving towards complete digitalization but there are still a lot of places around the country where the internet hasn’t reached yet. A lot of people in India still don’t understand how this technology works, so it will be quite a task to get them used to online voting. Central and local governments need to more actively work towards digitalization in every corner of the country. People need to be taught how the internet works so they can at least understand how mobile voting happens and can cast their own votes.
Ignorance and Illiteracy:
India is a populous country. Implementing or adopting a new law in such a country without any sort of opposition is not possible. People who aren’t yet accustomed to the internet system will ask questions about the credibility of this new technology. Also, the problem with illiteracy is another matter of consideration. The government should look at these matters and try to resolve everything as soon as possible before implementing the online voting system. As people will get to understand the benefits of the online technology of voting, they’ll consider this as an alternative.
Before considering such a huge change, India needs to work on its privacy laws and modify them so the online voting technology can get implemented without any worries. There are a certain number of laws related to elections in India and all of them need to have a few modifications before creating a new system.
Many private sectors have already adopted the system, but in central or state elections, there are still a few boundaries that need to be crossed. But it can be said that within a few years, India will definitely move towards digitalization in its state and central assembly elections.
