Electoral Process in India to be Furthered Thanks to Blockchain

Blockchain is no longer limited to just cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Blockchain is quickly becoming unravelled as this technology has been used in several different industries on many different pilot projects on a global scale.

The Election Commission of India has teamed up with the expert engineering college, IIT Madras in order to work on utilising blockchain technology for its voting system. This is being done in an effort to increase the turnout for voters. In India, over 84% of people migrate from one state to another. 

Going along with this collaboration is the people who have the right to vote that live outside of their home constituencies. They will be able to cast their votes without going to the polling station. The Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, Sandeep Saxena has explained how blockchain will be utilised in its development stage:

“[the project is a] two-way electronic voting system, in a controlled environment, on white-listed IP devices on dedicated internet lines, enabled with biometric devices and a web camera.”

On top of this, the so-called “two-way blockchain remote voting” system will essentially require the voters to be there in the designated venue at a predetermined period of time. In order to make use of this facility, voter identification and authorisation will be necessary. Following this, the establishment of a personalised e-ballot paper fueled through blockchain will be created.

After a vote has been made, a smart contract will be then sent off. The ballot will then be securely encrypted and a blockchain hashtag will be generated from this. Such a hashtag will be received by the candidates as well as the political parties themselves. 

Saxena further went on to say:

“Suppose there is a Lok Sabha election and a Chennai voter is in Delhi. Instead of returning to vote in his or her constituency or missing out on voting, the voter can reach a predesignated spot set up by the EC, say in Connaught Place, in a particular time window and can cast his vote.”

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. For more news on this and other crypto updates, keep it with CryptoDaily!