The Election Commission of India developing a new blockchain voting system in collaboration with IIT
The Election commission of India is collaborating with the Indian Institute of Technology or most popularly known as IIT to develop a totally new blockchain voting system which will be totally different from the traditional one. According to the Chief Election Commissioner, this new voting system will allow the Indian citizens to vote from any location far away from their hometown. The Commissioner has also said that the voter ID cards and the Aadhar cards will be linked with the system as well.
Why develop a blockchain voting system in India?
As per sources, it was evident there were issues with the traditional voting cropping u every now and then. In or to solve one of the biggest voting issues in the country the Election Commission or EC has proposed to develop a whole new voting system. A new voting system like the blockchain voting system was highly anticipated as many citizens of the country were unable to reach their allocated polling booth on the voting. As per data shared from the last voting session of 2019 it was found that there were around 900 million voters eligible for the voting of which around 300 million voters were unable to cast their votes. This is the reason why it is highly necessary to construct an entirely new voting system. The EC is now working in collaboration with the IIT in order to develop a new blockchain voting system that will allow the voters to register and cast their votes in any part of the country even after they transit from one city to another.
How the blockchain voting system will work?
Some of the particulars associated with the new voting system would involve a voter identification and authorization process using web cameras and biometric systems. After confirming the identity of the voter a blockchain-based personalized e-ballot paper or a smart contract will be generated instantly. When the voter casts their votes a smart contract will be executed and the ballot would be encrypted by generating a blockchain hashtag (#). After the generation of the hashtag notifications will be sent to all the stakeholders such as the voting candidates and the political parties.
With the new blockchain voting system being allocated the encrypted remote votes will be validated at the pre-counting stage in order to make sure that the votes cast are not decrypted or tampered with. However, the new voting system is still undergoing tests and if it is found to be a secure technology then there will be changes in the election laws and rules and will be even tried in actual voting conditions as well. Once put in practice by the election commission of India, the transient voters will be able to use this new voting system and never miss out on their voting rights.
Security concerns and some of the key issues –
Being a blockchain-based remote voting system the technology will come with its own issues and security concerns. According to EC, the voters would still have to physically reach their designated polling booths to cast their votes and the system will work using the white-listed IP devices on the dedicated internet connections. Moreover, there will be biometric attributes of the electors as well. With the introduction of digitization and interconnectivity in the new voting system points of failure would exist as well. As the blockchain system relies on the proper implementation of the cryptographic protocols, so if there are any shortcomings in the process then it would disclose the identity of the voter or even cast a vote as someone else as well. The implementation of the biometric authentication system may not be that much secure as there can be instances where a hacker might be able to clone the biometric attributes required to cast the vote on behalf of the actual voter.
However, by considering both the pros and cons of the new blockchain-based voting system many local and state governments are exploring the potentials of this new technology. There is no doubt to the fact that exploring the use of this technology in this domain is notable and blockchain could help in creating tamper-proof voting systems in the future.
Comments
Post a Comment