Coronavirus Lockdown: Bihar may become first state to have online voting in November

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only going to change the business modules in every sector but it is also going to completely transform the election process in the country, including the poll campaigning and the voting methodology.

If sources in the Government are to be believed, Bihar could become the first State which may witness online voting when the polls are held in October-November this year. “The ball could be set rolling in October-November as post-lockdown, Bihar will be the first and only State where Assembly elections will be held this year,” a government source averred.

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“The COVID-19 has brought a cataclysmic change in all the sectors. The poll process too may undergo a sea change. The conventional method of campaigning (through helicopters etc) and voting (standing in queues at polling booths) could be replaced with the digital mode of poll process,” said Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

Government sources told Deccan Herald that the Election Commission, much before the outbreak of Covid-19, had been mulling over the proposal of linking Aadhaar with the Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) so as to make the voting process more transparent and rigging-proof.

“If the poll panel develops such methodology, then the voter need not go to the polling booth and cast his/her vote sitting at home,” said Modi, who, like other top BJP leaders, is quite tech-savvy.

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“The BJP has always been ahead of other parties when it comes to using the digital mode of electioneering. Since Bihar will be the first State to go to polls post-lockdown, you will see complete transformation in the mode of campaigning where the gathering will not be addressed by holding conventional political rallies. Instead, there could be digital electioneering,” said Modi.

Sources in the Opposition parties too confirmed that there was less probability of conventional method of campaigning. “One will have to adopt the latest methodology to connect with the voters, who are more tech-savvy than the politicians. Bihar may not only see digital campaigning, it may see online voting too,” a senior Congress legislator told Deccan Herald here on Wednesday.