Some 10,000 gram panchayat elections will be organised in December 2011 and the State Election Commission (SEC) is planning to extend the e-voting facility to voters from rural areas.
E-voting is not limited only to urban voters. In the upcoming gram panchayat elections, even voters from rural areas can opt
for e-voting.
Some 10,000 gram panchayat elections will be organised in December 2011 and the State Election Commission (SEC) is planning to extend the e-voting facility to voters from rural areas. However, out of 10,000 villages, SEC will be offering this facility only to few villages.
Prakash Shah, secretary of SEC confirmed, "We are planning to provide e-voting facility to voters in the upcoming gram panchayat elections. But, we are planning to offer this facility only to a few villages on experimental basis."
For this, SEC has initiated talks with the state panchayat department. "We have discussed the plan with the state government's panchayat department officials. However, the final decision is yet to be taken. As far as the election commission is concerned, we are ready with the infrastructure from our side.
We just need to ensure proper internet connectivity and other infrastructure related facilities in villages. Presently, we are discussing the feasibility of the plan with technical service providers," said the secretary.
Shah said while selecting the villages, certain criteria will be taken into consideration. "The villages should have significantly large number of voters and proper internet connectivity or bandwidth.
Besides, we would also consider the potential number of voters interested in e-voting. Nowadays, most of the villages in the state are having internet access. Moreover, students in rural areas are also familiar with computers these days as they study the subject in their schools and colleges."
He added that while computer awareness and infrastructure is available in some, they need to create awareness about e-voting facility. "We have our data centre and other infrastructure ready," said Shah.
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