100% poll webcasting, phone deposit facility make a debut in the Assembly bypolls

To enhance and modernise the electoral process, while keeping the convenience of voters a priority, the Election Commission implemented several initiatives in the byelections held for five Assembly seats across four states on Thursday.

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The bypoll saw an upgraded voter turnout sharing process. The presiding officer directly entered voter turnout on the new ECINET App every two hours on polling day to reduce the time lag in the updation of the polling trends.

The provision of a mobile deposit facility for electors was introduced at all polling stations. Simple pigeonhole boxes or jute bags were provided at the entrance of polling stations, where the voters deposited their phones. Volunteers were deployed at the polling stations to facilitate the process.

Besides, 100 per cent webcasting of polling stations to ensure constant vigil of the entire polling process and individual mock poll training of all presiding officers.

Special Summary Revision of the electoral rolls was conducted before the byepolls for the first time in nearly two decades. These new initiatives were envisaged by CEC Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi in the past few months.

The roll out of new initiatives in the bypolls also paved the way for full introduction of these measures in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.