Technology+in+Indian+Elections



**An Advancement in Technology – Indian Elections **

Advanced technology in India is causing uproar, a good one that is in the recent Indian elections. The upcoming election is expected to run until May 2014 in nine separate phases. The capacity for the amount of people expected to vote is by far the largest that India has seen thus far! There are expected to be about 930,000 polling stations within the five hundred-forty three parliamentary constituencies of India. More than 200 million people in India are Internet users and social media is the number one tool to kick off their campaigns to all of the voters. What many do not know is that the key to the elections of India are their advanced technological campaigns that have got all of the voters buzzing. One of the major advances that India has already begun is the enhancement of the Electronic Voting Machine or EVM. An electronic voting machine is made up of a control unit, a balloting unit, and a battery. The control unit is used by a Polling or Presiding Officer and they would press the Ballot Button. The voter then presses a blue button for his or her candidate choice on the balloting unit to cast his or her vote. The battery comes in handy for those parts on India that do not have electricity, allowing those areas to still vote using the EVM. Electronic voting machines that were manufactured around 1989-1990 did not get used for the first time until 1998. At this time of manufacturing, the EVMs cost about 5,500 rupees. With the new technology, these EVM models will cost about 8,000-9,000 rupees more per machine. The new version of the electronic voting machine has its own printing unit, which allows a paper trail of each ballot to be produced. Once a voter casts his vote, the paper trail will automatically rip off from the roll of paper and drop into a box. There were initial concerns from the Election Commission that the slot for the paper to drop into the box was too large and voters would be able to see the previous voter’s ballot. As of recently, the slot was being made smaller to avoid dilemmas. As of recently, officials from other countries within Africa and the Middle East are seeking India’s help in bringing the EVM technology to their own countries. The EVM is an attractive, sleek machine to help further the election process. Officials from other countries even came to visit mock polling stations to try the systems for themselves. India’s Election Commission and the UN Development Program have both agreed to allow these visits so that the delegates can gain more experience and skill with the electronic voting machines. This is really important for India because other countries would follow in their advancement and become a model in the technological world. COMET, also known as the Communication Plan for Election, is an effective way to make sure that the elections run as smooth as possible. The COMET system was designed to send messages to thousands of government officials that are on that current election duty. In the year 2013 – the Election Commission of India announced their use of this alert system for upcoming elections. The great thing about the COMET system is that it creates text messages through mobile phones to assist in reaching out to the numbers of around 1.1 million government officials. This was made to become a quicker way to notify the officials of any changes, updates, or news that needed to reach everyone in a timely fashion. The first use of the system was in 2012, on assembly polls in various locations and it turns out that the system was highly successful and The Election Commission of India was sure that this would be used in the future. The system works through a control room, which would collect the numbers of almost all officials. The ‘coded’ text messages would send out data, information regarding scheduled events or changes in scheduled events, the start time of the polling, the number of voters in line and even voting percentages every two hours! This is a fast, innovative, and instant example of how the COMET system helps to increase the voting procedures during the elections in India. 3D campaigning and holograms are not the first thing that comes to mind when we think of campaigning. Creating holograms have been the latest craze when it comes to making someone’s presence become a reality. Candidates running in the India election have really taken on the hefty-priced hologram stunt to gain a personalized experience with voters, wherever they are living. A prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Narendra Modi took a full advantage of this technology to put him ahead of this race. According to his Facebook and Twitter accounts, Modi announced to his 3.78 million followers, to date, the locations of where his 3D “hologrammed“ versions of himself would premier and the times. By reaching out to that immense amount of potential voters at once, that one single tweet and Facebook post allows everyone to know the whereabouts of each and every appearance. With this hologram, he would be able to address millions of voters and citizens of India in over one hundred towns and cities, some even being simultaneously! Rallies were even formed at these locations of mainly supports, which also sure to help with publicity and to get people talking. Modi, himself, expressed on his Facebook page, “3D technology is a fantastic medium to connect with lakhs and lakhs of people, particularly places I will not be able to visit personally.” Lakhs, meaning hundreds of thousands; Modi was sure that the 3D technology would be successful. The images are similar to a person giving an actual seminar, however his physical presence is not really there. This shows us that campaigning in India is far more elaborate than we may have thought and this article just shows a glimpse of what’s got all of the voters buzzing. WORKS CITED "SMS-based System to Help Poll Panel Monitor 2014 Elections." //The Hindu//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

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"EC Ready with New-age Electronic Voting Machines with Printing Unit." //- TOI Mobile//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.