Bihar is set to become the first state in India to permit voting through mobile phones, State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad announced Friday evening, just ahead of polling scheduled for Saturday in six municipal councils across three districts.
Municipal elections will be held in Patna, Rohtas, and East Champaran tomorrow, marking the debut of this new e-voting initiative.
“This facility is designed for voters who are unable to visit polling stations due to physical limitations or geographical constraints,” Prasad said. This includes senior citizens, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, and migrant voters.
Voters will be able to cast their votes using a specially designed mobile application — e-SECBHR — which must be installed on their smartphones. The app is currently compatible only with Android devices. To register for e-voting, users must link the app to the mobile number that is already registered in the electoral roll under their name.
The State Election Commission, in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), developed the app. Another supporting app was also developed by the Bihar State Election Commission.
An awareness campaign to familiarize voters with the new system was conducted from June 10 to 22.
While the mobile voting facility will be available for tomorrow’s municipal council elections, it remains unclear whether the same system will be implemented for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections later this year.