Bihar Becomes 1st State To Allow Voting Via Mobile Phone App

Bihar will be the first state to permit voting via a mobile phone, State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad said Friday evening, ahead of voting tomorrow for six municipal councils in three districts.

Councils in Patna, Rohtas, and East Champaran will go to the polls Saturday.

The state will also hold an Assembly election later this year.

It is unclear if the vote-via-mobile phone facility will be offered then too.

In any case, for tomorrow the facility will be available to those who cannot go to a polling booth on the day of voting, Prasad said as he introduced the new e-voting initiative.

Votes can be cast via an app that must be installed on the phone, he said.

"This facility is for those unable to reach the polling station due to physical or locational reasons... like senior citizens, disabled persons, those who are pregnant and migrant voters."

An awareness campaign was run from June 10 to 22.

Voters who wish to register for e-voting must download the e-SECBHR app on their mobile (according to reports the app is compatible with Android phones only at this time) and link it to the phone number already registered to their name on the electoral roll.

The app, Prasad said, had been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, or C-DAC, while another was developed by the Bihar State Election Commission.

To maintain transparency while voting, only two registered voters can log in from one mobile number. However, the validity of every vote will be cross-checked against individual IDs.

Those without mobile phones can also vote on the State Election Commission's website.

According to Prasad, an estimated 10,000 voters had already signed up for this initiative, and another 50,000 are expected to cast votes without visiting polling booths, i.e., via the website.

Asked about measures to ensure the integrity of the voting process, Prasad said 'fool-proof digital security' had been ensured. "The system will have features like a blockchain platform... face match and scanning... making the process tamper-proof," he said.

He also said an audit trail - like the VVPAT, or Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, for the Electronic Voting Machines used in Assembly and federal elections - had been put in place.