Indian Election to be made Online

In last few months Indian Election and EVMs were talking point of the country. I don’t know if EVM were tampered or not but as Software tester I know for sure that not a single product in world is bug free. That is first point we were taught in testing industry. But right now I don t want to talk about that as this should be the agenda of Election commission to justify.

There was a question in my mind since long that why Indian Election shouldn’t be made online? What are the pros and Cons of shifting election to online?

Currently Indians have Voter Id number and Aadhar number. If there could be a system developed which can use these numbers and create an account for every Indian who can vote.  Every Indian will receive code to login into his/her account by entering his details. Every Voter id is unique so no other guy can copy that for wrong purposes. Plus double security can be done by adding Aadhar number also.

Now-a-days usage and reach of smartphones are increasing day by day. This voting can be done through App also.

Steps:

• Just download this App in your smartphone
• Login with your credentials.
• Enter the Code received.
• Click on the Party you want to Vote and
• Then Submit.
• Receive SMS to confirm you vote.

I will write about positives only from this system and I invite people to highlight negatives from this, if any.

Pros:

1. Voting process can be speed up.  No need to go to voting center and be in queue
2. Voter verification process would get shortened as this can be done online.
3. Lots and lots of saving of Government funds.
4. Better use of Government teachers/staffs that travel long distances to cover election.
5. False and duplicate voting can be stopped.
6. Large number of voter turnout as they can cast their vote sitting on the couch in their room.
7. Last but not the least same day result as counting can be done simultaneously.

Only con that I can think of now is hacking. But unlike EVM and Ballot boxes, these Apps are neither transported anywhere nor stored in any warehouse. With current cyber security hacking can be controlled if implemented properly. If Govt. comes to know that election has been hacked then also re-election can be done within days after analyzing the fault properly. The cost involved in re-election would be very less compared to current system.