The Election Commission of India is going to adopt a coded SMS-based alert system to supervise the 2014 national elections. The move is being considered as a significant step forward from the 2009 elections when the body had introduced an online monitoring system called the Communication Plan for Election or COMET .
“COMET consisted of a control room used to collect mobile phone numbers of around 1.1 million government officials on poll duty and helped us coordinate with them. The SMS-based monitoring system has reduced the workload tremendously,” Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla is quoted as saying.
The official reveals the system uses coded messages to track data of officials on election duty. The system helps the body to monitor a particular polling booth and information such as time when polling started, voting percentages, number of voters in queue after voting time is over, arrival time of the poll party at the EVM deposite centre.
“Officials on the ground just need to punch in a few letters to send various coded SMSes. The information is instantly available online and can be used by the commission and poll officials in the state capital and districts,” Shukla added.
In case of events such as malfunctioning of voting machines, problems in the voter list or any law and order problem, the system will help alert the local senior police officials via an SMS.
“When a law and order problem is reported, quick response of the police and the commission matters a lot,” said Shukla.
The new system was implemented in the assembly polls in Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur in early 2012 and in the recent Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assembly polls. The EC has been using the latest technology to help the voters during the elections. The body recently enabled electors in NE states to use Google Maps to locate their polling stations and access other electoral information on the go. Electors can check out the information on Google Maps by visiting the Election Commission or state chief electoral officer’s website.
Source: Times of India