http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Low-voter-turnout-Smart-card-a-smart-solution/articleshow/4469680.cms
Low voter turnout: Smart card a smart solution? 1 May 2009, 0407 hrs IST, Ramu Bhagwat, TNN NAGPUR: With voting in the third phase over on Thursday, the fate of candidates contesting from all 48 seats in Maharashtra now hangs in the balance. But the lower voter turnout of less than 44 per cent in Mumbai in line with the trend from the first phase has once again put all political parties in a quandary. BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani has called for amending the Constitution to fix the term for legislatures, making voting compulsory and simultaneous elections of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as steps to get over the problem of dwindling voter numbers. A cross-section of IT professionals from the city have voted for a software solution, something like a smart card as the best way out to get around the problem. Incidentally, reports from Gujarat said Advani and his wife Kamla had to do some booth hopping before casting their names in the voter list. They could not vote in Gandhinagar, from where the BJP veteran is contesting, as their names were not in the voters' list and there after the delimitation exercise. They could finally cast vote in Shahpur in the Ahmedabad (West) Lok Sabha constituency, miles away from Gandhinagar. "Searching for the allotted polling station, finding the name in the list are daunting tasks that put off the voter from venturing out on an otherwise public holiday especially during extreme weather conditions. A smart card that can be integrated with national security requirements, a ration card, vital data a multi-purpose card with unique number that can be used from anywhere in the country is the need of the hour. IT can play a big role in this to make voting a more friendly exercise," said Amitabh Khanna, president, Vidarbha Association of Software Exporters. Talking to ToI he said all this would entail huge networking and expediter. But he was sure it would be worth exploring. In fact such a device could subsequently reduce recurring cost of conducting the election exercise. Networking wizard Amrit Narayan Prasad agreed that an IT solution could certainly boost the sagging voter turnout by at least 20 per cent as voter would find it easy to cast his choice from anywhere helping those touring out on the polling day. But he felt the current low Turnout was more an indicator of the growing pessimism towards political parties and leaders among all sections of the Indian society. "They don't keep promises," he explained but agreed that a voter-friendly IT solution could be worked out and the Election Commission of India should think on these lines as a long-term solution. Anand Garodia, director of city-based Leansoft Solutions said a smart card for voting could increase voting percentage and also help security and other requirements. Such a common card for every citizen can be developed though cost involved could be enormous. But the benefits could be worth it," said Garodia. _________________________________________ reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. Critiques & Collaborations To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-requ...@sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header. To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher Gaining Ground ... http://zainab.freecrow.org http://cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories-of-the-internet/transparency-and-politics