BackAPJ Abdul Kalam bats for E-elections in his new book
Kalam visualizes a transparent system for elections in the country in his new book 'A Manifesto for Change'
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New Delhi: Imagine voters having mobile phones using a secured and an authentic app to vote for the candidate of their choice in their constituency! This is what former president APJ Abdul Kalam visualizes for implementing a transparent system for elections in the country in his new book A Manifesto for Change.
In this book, which is a sequel to India 2020, Kalam, writing with co-author V. Ponraj, examines the requirements of India to become a developed country by 2020. A Manifesto for Change, published by HarperCollins India, is the result of five years of Kalam’s research on our parliamentary system.
He says a new, independent Lokpal Bill (not in the present form) empowering an independent Central Vigilance Comission, independent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and an independent special court with a checks and balance mechanism built-in to deal with corruption cases with constitutional authority status similar to that of the Election Commission are the need of the hour.
Advocating for E-elections, the country’s 11th president writes, “I visualize an election scenario in which a candidate files his nomination from a particular constituency. Immediately, the election officer verifies his or her authenticity using the national citizen ID (UIDAI/National Population Register ID/any other citizen ID) database. “His or her civic status is reflected by the crime record with the police. His property record comes from the land authority; income and wealth sources from the income-tax department; education credentials from university records; employment record from various employers; credit history from various credit institutions like banks; and legal records from the judicial system." All these details will then automatically show up on the election officer’s computer screen within a few minutes, thanks to an e-governance software which scans state and central government directories, Kalam says.
“The election officer immediately decides on the candidate’s eligibility, and the election process starts. During the election, voters having mobile phone with their national ID can use a secured and authentic election mobile app to vote for the candidate of their choice in their constituency, besides the option of going to a polling booth," he suggests.
He then poses a series of questions. “Is such a system possible? If so, when will it turn to reality? Will the political parties believe in such an advanced system? Will the bureaucrats allow it to be implemented?" He says as far as the technology goes, this is feasible. “It is for the leadership to have the courage to implement such a transparent system for elections, which will attract 100% voting and reduce the pitfalls in the election system. Also, this would only be a starting point. We would need to replicate such systems across the board," he claims.
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