Bangalore: Remote Voting Organisation, the movement started by a group of enthusiastic young information technology professionals a year ago, has progressed fast in its efforts to enable more people exercise their franchise. Voting will be more secure and accessible under the proposals for a new scheme, "Remote Voting."

The scheme, which is to be launched within the coming year, plans to make voting easier for all. With inputs from legal, social and political experts, technocrats, eminent citizens and administrators, the new system will be secure and tamper-proof and cannot be replicated. It will protect the confidentiality and anonymity of voters, says Ashish Anand, one of those who launched this movement.

A 6 ft. x 6 ft. cubical device will be stationed at various centres in 640 towns or cities nationwide. It will be portable and have no wired connectivity requirement, and hence more secure than the internet.

Remote voting stations can be set up on newly erected premises or existing secure premises such as banks, police stations and postoffices. Plan for a multi-lingual balloting unit to facilitate uneducated voters, and an interface system to help illiterate voters is underway. Once the scheme begins, voters can go to a designated remote voting registration centre and submit address details and undergo a thumb scan, following which they will receive a coded voter identity card. They can vote from any remote voting centre in the country. But voting from polling stations will no longer be permitted. Under the scheme, 20, 000 remote voting centres will be set up nationwide.

A city such as Bangalore will initially have 40-50 centres, with the flexibility to set up more in case of increased use.

Although setting up of the new system will be more expensive than electronic voting machines, cost savings will be made through a smaller number of remote voter entrees, more inclusive democracy and governance and minimised security challenges. For details, log on to contactus@remotevote.org.in

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