Modernizing our Voter Registration System to Awaken Indian Democracy

Modernizing Our Voter Registration System to Awaken Indian Democracy
Author : Arish Rajan Contributors : Megha Narkhede, Harshul, Raghav & Tushar

Why we need to build an Efficient Voter Registration System
2. Key Problems in the Current Voter
Registration System
7. Making the New IT Based Voter Registration
S/m Zero Cost by Using it to Provide KYC facility
to Banks
1. Neglect of their duty by the Indian Public
4. Inadequate Expenditure made by the Indian
Govt to maintain the Voter Registration System
Click on the Light Blue Boxes to see Full Details about each of these 7 Points.
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3. Highlights of Proposed ‘New IT Based Voter
Registration System’
5. Calculations –
a) Number of Application Forms to be
processed in 1 year
b) Number of new employees that need to be
hired for Election Department
c) Estimated Annual Expense
d) Number of Lok Sabha seats impacted
6. Cost Cutting Options that must be Avoided

Current Voter Registration System
Full Set of
Potential
Applicants
150
1000
Actual Applicants
100
110
60
40
80
20
850 Citizens who do
NOT Apply to
Register as Voters
Apply
Individually
Apply Via
Bulk Voter
Registration
Drives
Verification of
Application
Forms
Processing of Application Forms
Final Output
1. Names added to Voter List : 60
2. Names Added to Voter List without any Mistakes : 30
3. Voter ID Card Received by Applicant : 15
4. Correct Address & Contact Details saved in
Election Department Database : 0
Application
Forms
Accepted
Click on the Light Blue Boxes to see Full Details about each of these Topics.
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Building Blocks of Proposed IT Based Voter Registration System
1. Changes Required in Election Department Team
Structure Slide
a) Current Team Structure
b) Team Structure required for Proposed IT based
System
2. Accurate & Detailed Maps of each Constituency
should be available in Government Website
4. Issue – Very Difficult to identify One’s Polling
booth and Constituency.
a) Current Situation
b) How the New System will solve this issue
3. Issue – Large Number of Bogus Voters in Voter List
5. A Citizen requires to Submit Up To 6 Separate
Application Forms to process all his requirement
Click on the Light Blue Boxes to see Full Details about each of these 5 Topics.
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Building Blocks of Proposed IT Based Voter Registration System
1. Changes Required in Election Department Team
Structure Slide
a) Current Team Structure
b) Team Structure required for Proposed IT based
System
2. Accurate & Detailed Maps of each Constituency
should be available in Government Website
4. Issue – Very Difficult to identify One’s Polling
booth and Constituency.
3. Issue – Large Number of Bogus Voters in Voter List
5. A Citizen requires to Submit Up To 6 Separate
Application Forms to process all his requirement
Click on the Light Blue Boxes to see Full Details about each of these 5 Topics.
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New IT Based Voter Registration System
Full Set of Potential Applicants
(All Citizens are able to Apply)
1000
1000
1000
1000
Filling and Submitting Application Form
& 1st Round of Verification
2nd Round of Verification
Processing of Application Forms & Printing of Voter Id Card
Final Output
1. Names added to Voter List : 1000
2. Names Added to Voter List without any Mistake: 1000
3. Voter ID Card Received by Applicant : 1000
4. Correct Address & Contact Details saved in
Election Department Database: 1000
Click on the Light Blue Boxes to see Full Details about each of these Topics.
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Advantages of Proposed IT Based Voter Registration System
1. Time Required to get registered as Voter
2. Voter Registration Drive Duration
3. Ease of Filling Application Form
4. Ease of Submitting Application Form
5. Accessibility of Election Offices
6. Working Hours of Election Office
7. Election Department Team Structure 8. Quality of Service Provided
9. Notifying/Informing the Applicant 10. Storing ALL Info related to Additions
& Deletions made in Voter List
11. Enrolment to Graduate Constituency
& Teacher Constituency
12. Efficiency of Voter Registration
Process
13. Environment Friendliness 14. Number of Applicants in 1 year
Click on the Light Blue Boxes to see Full Details about each of these 14 Points.
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Why We
Need to Build
an Efficient Voter
Registration System
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1. Neglect of their duty by Indian Public
 Citizens in India are often blamed for their Apathy towards the Democratic process.
 It is said that they neglect their duty to –
 Get their name added to the Voter List (Causes Low Percentage of Voting)
 When they shift their residence they do not transfer their name to the Voter List of the new place. It leads to –
a) Low Voter Turnout: They are Not able to vote as they live far away from the place where they had
registered as Voters
b) Bogus Voting: In their old place bogus voting could be done in their name
 The Root Cause for this problem is the Inefficient and Cumbersome Voter Registration System in India.
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 This problem is especially serious in Indian Cities. India is urbanising rapidly. Millions of young educated and
hardworking people are shifting to cities every year.
 However only a small percentage of this group votes. This a great loss to the Nation.
 If the Educated and Aware citizens vote, then they would elect leaders with progressive, development oriented
policies. Such leaders can quickly guide the country to a prosperous future.

2. Key Problems in the Current Voter Registration System
The Performance of the Current System
 4 to 12 months of Time Required to get your name added to Voter List
 Only 60% of Applicant get their name Added to Voter List. No reason given for Rejection.
 Only 15% Applicant get Voter ID Card
 At least 50% of Voter Id Cards have mistakes in fields like – Name, Age, Father’s name etc.
 100% Voter ID cards have Wrong/Incomplete Address written
Understanding the Effort required from the Applicant to get Registered
 Voter Registration Drives happen for only 2 Months in a Year. By the time Citizens come to know about the drive, it is
already over.
 In a City like Pune only 10-12% of Eligible people Apply(including people who need to transfer their name to new
address)
 The Election Department is extremely understaffed. They are not able to handle even this 10% load. So, they resort
to Confusing the Applicants and Actively Discourage Citizens from applying.
 Applicant has to spend a Minimum of 2 Working Days to apply and collect Voter Id Cards
 An Average working person in City earns around 15,000-20,000 rupees in a month. A month has 22-25 working days.
 So to spend 2 Working Days in this activity is Equivalent of Donating 1500-2000 rupees to the country
 Also, as we have seen in above point, EVEN after making this Sacrifice and Waiting for 12 months, the Chance of
getting name added to Voter List is Very Low.
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3. Highlights of Proposed ‘New IT Based Voter Registration System’
 Citizens to whom the service will be provided: 16.22 crore people living in India’s largest 54 Cities
(Indian Cities having a population of more than 10 lakh should be covered in phase 1)
 Number of Application Forms that should ideally be collected from these Cities: 2.92 crores per year
 Number of Employees required to run this system: 7500
 Cost: 375 crore rupees per year
 Benefits: The IT Based Voter Registration System will be available 365 days, throughout the year. It will be -
 Easy to Fill and Submit Application Form. Easy to Track Status of Application form.
 Adds name in Voter List in Just 4 days. SMS and Email Alerts sent to applicant after each step of processing.
 100% Applicants get their Voter Id Card. All info/Personal details printed on the Voter Id Card will be Correct.
 Easy to track and remove bogus voters
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 Impact: These 16.22 crore people in 54 cities represent 70-100 Lok Sabha seats.
They also represent 700-800 Vidhan Sabha seats and 1000’s of Municipality seats.
When the Educated and Aware citizens in these 54 cities participate fully in democracy then we will get 1000s of
honest, able and progressive leaders.
Municipal Corporations across the country will become more Efficient and People Friendly.
In many States this will have a important impact on who becomes the Chief Minister.
A Swing of 70-100 Lok Sabha seats will have a Decisive Impact in Choosing India’s Prime Minister.

4. Indian Govt’s Current Budgetary Allocation to support Voter Registration Activity
 Expenditure budgeted by Indian Govt (Central + All State Govt) in financial year 2013-14 was 30 Lakh Crore rupees.
 Funds Allocated to Election Commission for Voter Registration & Issuing Voter Id Card is Only 70 Crores i.e. 0.002%
of annual budget. This is clearly inadequate for this very important task.
 To ensure that the vast amount of funds spent by the Indian Govt every year (i.e. 30 Lakh Crore) is managed by
Honest and Able leaders for the greatest good of the country, we should not hesitate to spend a little more on Voter
Registration System
 Instead of spending only .002% of annual budget (70 crores)
Let us at least spend .02% of annual budget (i.e. 700 crores)
Using the Powerful IT facilities/products available today, we can create a very efficient Voter registration System at a
Low Cost.
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5 a) Number of Application Forms that Need to be Processed in 1 Year in Pune City
 People Moving to Cities for Education and Employment:
Every year around 3 lakh people come to Pune from different parts of Maharashtra and India.
 People Living as Tenants have to Frequently Change their Address
Pune’s current population is around 55 lakhs. Around 66% of this population is above the age of 18 (i.e. Eligible Voter).
Thus the Number of Eligible voters in Pune City = 66% of 55 lakhs = 36 Lakhs
In a City like Pune, nearly half of the population lives as tenants.
Thus in Pune around 18 Lakh Eligible Voters (half of 36 Lakhs) will be living as Tenants.
The rent agreements are usually of 11 months. So most tenants have to change their house once in 1-3 years.
This means that these 18 Lakh Eligible Voters need to Submit Application Forms again in 1-3 years, to Register their
name in the Voter list of new Ward/Polling Booth/ Constituency as per their new address .
We can thus assume that every year at least 7 Lakh Application Form will be submitted due to this reason (Tenants
shifting residence)
 Number of Voter Registration Forms expected to be submitted in Pune in 1 Year -
3 Lakh Applicants for New Registrations + 7 lakh Applicants for Transferring Voter Registration =10 Lakh Applicants
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We shall first Analyse the case of Pune City and then use it to Estimate the total requirement of all Indian Cities

5 b) Number of Election Dept. Employees required to Run the New System
 In the previous slide we calculated that in a City of 55 Lakhs, around 10 Lakh Application forms will be submitted in a year.
 Thus the Number of Application forms expected to be submitted in a year is around 18% of the City’s population
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 As per the census of 2011, India has 54 Cities with a Population greater than 10 Lakhs.
 The Combined Population of these 54 Cities is 16.22 crores.
 This means that 2.92 crore application form need to processed every year. (18 percent of 16.22 crores)
 In 1 working day, around 116,800 Application form need to be processed. (assuming 250 working days in a year)
 In the new IT Based System, it would take 30-35 minutes of work to completely process an Application. This includes –
 Verification of Application Form
 Verification of Proof Document
 Adding Name to Voter List
 Printing and Distributing the Voter Id Card
 One employee of Election Department would be able to process 15-20 applications per day.
 Thus Election Department would require 7500 employees to run this system

5 c) Estimating Annual Expense of Running the New IT Based Voter Registration System
 The expenditure of maintaining 1 employee would be around 5 Lakhs per year (Cost of Salary + Office Infrastructure)
 So the Expenditure to Election Commission to run this system will be 375 crore rupees per year.
(7500 employees, 5 Lakh rupees spent per employee)
 Today many sick PSU’s are being closed. The employees of these sick PSU’s can be moved to the election department and
accommodated within these 7500 vacancies. It will help the government to avoid expensive golden handshakes. It will help
the PSU employees to avoid traumatic loss of job.
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5 d) Estimating Impact of the New IT Based Voter Registration System
Parameter Value
(A) Population of India 121.02 crores
(B) Number of People per Seat; B = A/545 22.2 Lakhs
(C) Combined Population of the 54 cities to be covered by this system 16.22 crores
(D) Number of Lok Sabha Seats represented by these 54 cities; D = C / B 73 Lok Sabha Seats
However on ground, many Lok Sabha constituencies contain both urban and rural areas.
So these cities will not be represented by 73 exclusively urban Lok Sabha seats.
Rather they will be spread across 100+ Lok Sabha seats which also include some of the neighbouring rural areas.
Thus the New IT Based Voter Registration System will impact around 100 Lok Sabha Seats.

6 a) Cost Cutting Options that MUST be Avoided while Creating this Critical System
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Avoid Using Private Contractors instead of hiring Employees for Election Department
 It is possible to reduce this cost to half, by using private contractors.
However we will strongly recommend AGAINST using such an approach.
Significant amount of wrong doings might occur in this critical activity if it is done by low cost private contractors .
 If any wrong doing is committed in this critical work then the IT System will allow us to easily pin point the Operator who
has committed it. Strict action like Suspension or Dismissal can be taken against the errant person.
 A Government job is Valued Greatly for its Stability and Post Retirement benefits. The fear of strict action like
dismissal/suspension will act as a very strong Deterrent for a government employee against doing any wrong doings.
 Private contractors usually employ low paid staff, who switch jobs in short time spans.
No practical action can be taken against such a work force.

6 b) Cost Cutting Options that MUST be Avoided while Creating this Critical System
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Avoid using In-house IT team to develop the New IT System for Voter Registration
The system must be very robust so that it can handle the load of crores of people using it.
The most modern technology and expertise should be utilized to create it.
 The In-House teams do not have Expertise and Experience to take up such a complex project. The Poor Performance of
IRCTC website is living lesson for us. The poor performance of this website causes agony to millions of Indians everyday.
 On the other hand the superb performance of Trading Platform of NSE and BSE stock exchange shows to us that IT
technology today can –
 Efficiently service far greater workload than IRCTC
 Provide 100% accuracy as needed in the Financial Sector
 The Top IT Companies in the world should be invited to Bid to develop the IT system for this New Voter Registration
System.

7 a) Making the New IT Based S/m Zero Cost by Using it to Provide KYC facility to Banks
 A good Voter Registration System will build an Accurate Database with Address of all citizens in India.
 It can be used by all the Banks in India as a unified KYC (Know Your Customer) Database.
 This will provide a wonderful facility to citizens. Instead of changing their address separately for their multiple bank
accounts and credit cards, they will only need to update their address in one place.
 Banks and Credit card Issuers will also be able to avoid a lot of hassles and always have Up to date address of their
customer.
 This Database can also be utilized by other service providers like –Telephone/Mobile Connection Providers, Internet
Connection Providers etc.
 In fact it is quite likely that the Banks will be happy to Finance the Cost of Setting up and Maintaining this System.
 It will be now in Citizens own interest to get his address updated in the Voter List, as this same address will be used
by dozens of service providers with whom he is interacting. So, he will himself change his address as soon as he
shifts to a new address. This will lead to 100% Voter Registration. We can then even look to Implement Compulsory
Voting after this.
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7 b) Making the New IT Based S/m Zero Cost by Using it to Provide KYC facility to Banks
Calculation - Raising Revenue for New Voter Registration System
 Banks can be charged Rs 10 per year for providing address of 1 Bank Account or Credit Card.
Today there are 68.4 crore bank accounts in India. Revenue generated = 68.4 * 10 = 684 crore rupees
Today there are 1.9 crore credit cards in India. Revenue generated = 1.9 * 10 = 19 crore rupees
 Telephone/Mobile and Internet Service Providers can be charged Rs 5 per year for providing address of a customer.
Today there are 74 crore active phone connections in India. Revenue generated = 74 * 10 = 740 crore rupees
Today there are 16 crore internet connections in India. Revenue generated = 16 * 10 = 160 crore rupees
 Total Revenue generated = 684 + 19 + 740 + 160 = 1603 crore rupees per year
 Thus we see that we can easily raise huge amount of funds to maintain a First Class Voter Registration System
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Current Voter
Registration System
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100
Misinformed
Only people born in Pune/
Maharashtra can Vote here.
150
Does Not Care
My 1 Vote can not
make any difference
Confused
It is difficult to find out the address of
Election Offices where I need to go to
register as Voter.
Missed the Chance
When I went to Register ,
Govt had Closed the Voter
Registration drive.
150
150
Lost Confidence in Election Department
1. No Acknowledgement Receipt is
provided
2. No way to track the progress
3. 12 months to process the form
4. If name does not come in Voter list
there is no mechanism to find out, what
the problem was.
150
Afraid of Hassles
1. No Time to make many
trips to Govt office and stand
in long lines
2. Cannot come during
working hours.
1000
All Potential Applicants
150
Aware,Determined & Responsible Citizen
150
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Online Application Paper Application
5
Not Processed
5
1. No staff to handle this.
All Online Applications go
to very senior Officers
(Deputy Collectors) who
are too busy to process it.
2. It gives absolutely no
benefit to applicant as he
needs to print the form
and physically go to ERO
office to submit. Thus it is
the same as Applying in
paper format.
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Discouraged /Not Allowed
Election Dept is heavily
understaffed and cannot
handle so much workload. So
they often do not allow Citizen
to submit forms for excuses
like -
a) Part number is wrong.
b) You have to find your
BLO/ERO office and submit
there.
c) This week we are busy.
Application Form
Misplaced
5
This happens due
to confusion arising
from handling
1000's of Paper
forms
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Submitted
40
Application Forms which
are Submitted Individually
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10
Not Submitted
Not verified
that proof docs
have been
attached or
that All
required info is
filled.
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Not Submitted
1. Not put sincere
effort to verify the
forms and submit at
right place.
2. Vote Bank Politics:
Not Submit forms of
people of Community/
Economic Class unlikely
to vote for him.
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0
80 30
Voter Voter Drives by NGO Drives by Politicians
70 10
Submitted Submitted
80
Total Submitted
Issue with Bulk Voter Registration Drives
Politically Motivated groups can misuse this facility to
easily create Multiple Voter Id Cards for their
supporters in fictional address. This leads to large
amount of bogus voting
are Submitted Via Bulk
Voter Registration Drives
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60
10
Rejected, Valid Reason
For e.g., Applications with
-
1. Incomplete info
2. Insufficient proof docs
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Rejected, InValid Reason
1. Election Dept is heavily
understaffed and cannot handle so
much workload. So they reject forms
for all kinds of excuses For e.g. -
a) Part Number not provided
b) Transfer of Voter registration from
other state not allowed
2. Most of staff of Election Dept is
Part Time hence they do NOT know
the rules properly, Not aware of List of
Documents which can be used as
Address proof. So many Applications
having Valid Address proof get
rejected due to this
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40
Why Election Dept employees are Not Helpful/Friendly
1. They are truly one of the most overburdened
employees anywhere. There are just 11 full time
employees in Election Dept for Pune City having a
population of 55 lakhs
2. They have to frequently work on Saturdays and
Sundays.
3. Sometimes they work till midnight and even do night
outs.
4. The Part Time staff feel it is an unfair burden dumped
on them. They are usually school teachers. Due to
unmanageable workload they are neither able to do their
duty as school teachers nor as election dept employees.
5. The Govt system is very Inadequate and Manual which
makes it very difficult to work -
a) No proper maps exist for constituencies
b) Unnecessarily Complex system with 400+ sub sections
called as Part number under each constituency. It is
nightmare of a task to assign an applicant to the correct
Part Number.
c) These employees do not have any IT skills
6. It is a thankless job and they have to face unending
complaints from Angry Citizens
Rejected
Accepted
Reach the Verification Step
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60
Data Entry Done
Name Added to Voter List
Issues with Data Entry Activity
1. This activity is also done very
carelessly. More mistakes are added to
the Applicant data like -
Name/Age/Father's name etc to the
Voter Database.
2. No notification sent to the Applicant
to inform his/her name has been
added to the Voter list.
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Pink Slip Prepared
A portion of the info in the Application form is manually copied to a
document called as Pink Slip
Issues with Pink Slip Preparation
1. Lot of useful data like Phone Number/Email is not copied to Pink
Slip. Thus Govt now has no way to contact/notify the Voter.
2. For most of the applicants Wrong/Partial address is entered. This
happens as 90% of Hsg Societies do not have their Section Numbers.
Thus Govt has No Way to visit Voters house for verification purpose.
This is the main reason why India has crores of bogus voters
3. This activity is done very carelessly. For a large number of
Applicants, incorrect Name/Age/Father's name etc are entered to
the Pink Slip.
Voter Id Card Distribution
Finally Voter Id Card Received by Applicant
Issues with Voter Id Card Distribution
No notification sent to Applicant ‘s to inform about
where/when to collect Voter ID card. Thousands of Voter
ID cards are lying unclaimed in election offices.
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Voter Id Card Printed
Reach the Processing Step
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Building Blocks of
Proposed New IT-Based
Voter Registration System
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1 a) Current Team Structure of Election Department
 Currently Election Department of Pune City has 4000+ Part Time/Partial employees
 There are Only 11 Full Time employees (1 for each Constituency)
 Most of the Election Dept employees themselves do not know the correct rules and regulations (as they are
Part Time Employees)
 This causes lot of Mistakes and Inefficiency
Post Designation Type of Employment Nbr of people
at this post
ERO Deputy
Collector
Partial - 1 day per week: A deputy collector usually has to take care of
many other important responsibilities and can give only 1 day in a
week for this department
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Assistant
ERO
Tehsildar Partial: Has many other responsibilities from other departments
11
Naib
Tehsildar
Naib Tehsildar Full Time
11
BLO School
Teacher
Part Time: Only involved for 2 months in a year when there is more
election related work 4000
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1 b) Team Structure required for Proposed IT based System
 Earlier in this PPT we have calculated that ideally 10 Lakh Application Forms should be submitted in Pune in 1 year.
 In 1 working day, around 4000 Application forms need to be processed. (assuming 250 working days in a year)
 One employee of Election Department would be able to process 15-20 applications per day.
So Pune Election Department will require a staff of 240 full time IT trained persons to support this workload
 Thus we can see that the proposed system will handle nearly 10 times the workload; with a much smaller workforce.
 There would be 60 Voter Help Centers (VHC) with 4 employees each. The VHC will be Open 7 days a week and 365 days a
year. The VHCs could be set up as another room in the Post Offices.
 The working hours will be 2 pm to 11 pm. (Housewives/ Women will find the 2pm to 6 pm time period convenient. Office
goers will prefer to come in the 6 pm to 11 pm time period).
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2. Accurate & Detailed Map of each Constituency should be present in Govt Website
 The constituency maps currently provided by Election Department are very poor. It is virtually impossible for citizens
to identify their constituency using such maps.
 We NGOs have created high quality maps of each Constituency using Google Maps. We can provide these maps to
Election Department. They can be verified and then uploaded to Govt websites.
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3 a) Large Number of Bogus Voters are Present in Voter List Today
Actual Number
of People living
in the house
Number of People living in
the house as per Voters
List (Large Number of
BOGUS VOTERS)
Root Cause of this Problem: Election Dept Database does not have Correct/Complete address of even a single voter
So, Election Department is not able to conduct inspections to verify whether a particular voter really lives in that area or
not. Due to this, Election Department is Not Able to Delete the names of Bogus Voters from the voter list.
 Maximum amount of bogus voting happens for voters who did not provide photo for their voter id cards.
 In Pune there are 7,25,000 such voters who have not provided their photos.
 The Election Dept is unable to visit these people to collect photo as it does not have their address.
 The address is stored in Database of Election Dept in the following format - House Nbr, Section Name, Area and City.
 Section name is equivalent to Housing Society.
 Today 90-95% of Housing Societies in Pune are not entered in the Database of Election Department as Sections.
 Thus all addresses saved in the database are incomplete as they do not have Section name i.e Housing society name.
Example -
Complete Address: A102, Shubham Apartment, Dhanori, Pune
Address Stored : A102, Dhanori, Pune
As we can see, without the Housing Society name, the address stored is of no use.
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3 b) How the New System will help to Remove Bogus Voters from Voter List
 All Hsg Societies in Pune should be added to the database as Sections under appropriate Polling Booths & Constituency.
 The number of houses in each housing society should also be recorded. If the number of voters under any
section/housing society becomes disproportionally high as compared to number of houses in it; then Election department
can send inspection squads in that area to catch bogus voters.
Example: If a Housing Society with only 100 houses has 700 names in voter list, then it is likely that there are several bogus
voters in this housing society. The Election Dept should conduct an inspection and remove all the bogus voters.
 We NGOs have collected list of Housing Societies in each area in Pune and can provide it to government.
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4 a) Current System: Very Difficult for Applicant to find his Polling booth & Constituency
Difficult to find own
Polling Booth from a list
of 400 Polling Booths
 Each constituency in Pune has around 400 polling booths. The Polling booth number is called as Part number.
 The area which falls under each Polling booth is very poorly defined. So, it is very difficult for an ordinary citizen or
even an Election Department employee to identify the correct Part number from nearly 400 part numbers under that
constituency.
 Today, 1000's of Citizens are NOT allowed to submit Application Forms because they are not able to find their Part
number. 1000's of Application forms are rejected as they are having wrong Part number.
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4 b) New System: Applicant can Easily identify his Polling booth & Constituency
Easy to find own
Section from a list
of 10-15 Sections
 The entire area of Pune City will be divided into Squares of 1km * 1km.
 As Pune City has an area of 6-700 square km, there will be 6-700 such 'Squares'.
 The IT system will keep a list of all Sections (Housing Societies) which lie inside each of theses 'Squares'.
 First the Applicant will enter his/her address in the Online Application form. A Google Map window will Pop out.
 Using the address the appropriate 'Square' for the Applicant will be identified.
 All the Sections (Housing Societies) in his /her 'Square' will be displayed.
 The Applicant can then choose his Section (Housing Societies).
 This will Automatically populate his Part Number (Polling Booth) and Constituency.
When Applicant's Housing Society is NOT present in the list of Sections –
 Applicant will use the option "Other" and mention the Name of his Housing Society and the Number of houses in it.
 The Election Dept will inspect this Housing Society.
 After verification, it will be added as a New Section under appropriate Polling Booth and Constituency.
 This process will ensure that the IT database will always stay up to date and contain all the newly created Housing
Societies as Sections.
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5 a) Current System: A Citizen needs to submit up to 6 Separate Applications
Six Separate
Applications
Let us understand this with an example. A person is enrolled in all 3 types of constituencies - General Voter, Teacher and
Graduate. He changes his address and wants to move his Voter Registration to his new area of residence.
In the current Paper Application form based system, he will have to submit 6 Application Forms -
 3 Application Forms to get his name Added in the Voter list of General Voter, Teacher and Graduate constituencies as
per his New Address.
 3 Application Forms to get his name Deleted from the voter list of General Voter, Teacher and Graduate constituencies;
in which he was registered earlier.
 Due to this complicated process, currently only a very small percentage of Eligible Citizens enrol for Teacher and
Graduate Constituencies.
35

5 b) New System: Just 1 Application Form will Process All Requirements of a Citizen
One Combined
Application
 In the Proposed New IT based system, he will have to submit just one Application form for all these 6 activities.
Such an easy and convenient system will ensure that all Eligible Citizens will get registered under Teacher and Graduate
Constituencies also.
 Also, the New IT based System will Remove all Duplication of Effort in the process, for e.g. manual verification of forms,
copying data from paper form to other formats.
This will Drastically reduce the effort required by Election Department to process the application form(s) of a citizen. In
fact 85% less effort will be required as compared to current system(See Table on Next Page)
36

Current System: Time Required to Process Application forms of 1 Person (in Minutes)
Graduate Constituency
Add to Voter
List of New
Area
Delete from
Voter List of
Old Area
8 6
8 8
_ _
6 6
5 _
6 6
6 3
2 _
5 _
46 29
75
Teacher Constituency
Add to Voter
List of New
Area
Delete from
Voter List of
Old Area
8 6
8 8
_ _
6 6
5 _
6 6
6 3
2 _
5 _
46 29
75
Activity
General Voter List
Add to Voter
List of New
Area
Delete from
Voter List of
Old Area
Verifying forms 8 6
Verifying Proof Docs 8 8
Comparing Original Proof
_ _
Docs with Scanned Doc
Making receipt 6 6
Finding Part no and Serial No 5 _
Make a Pink Slip 6 6
Data Entry to add to Voter
6 3
List
Printing Voter ID card 2 _
Distributing Voter ID card. 5 _
Total
46 29
75
Grand Total 225 Minutes , ie.3 hour 45 minutes
37

New IT Based S/m: Time Required to Process Application forms of 1 Person (in Minutes)
Activity
General Voter List
Add to Voter
List of New
Area
Delete from
Voter List of
Old Area
Verifying forms _ _
Verifying Proof Docs 8 _
Comparing Original Proof
5 _
Docs with Scanned Doc
Making receipt _ _
Finding Part no and Serial No _ _
Make a Pink Slip _ _
Data Entry to add to Voter
List
_ _
Printing Voter ID card 2 _
Distributing Voter ID card. 5 _
Total
20 0
20
Graduate Constituency
Add to Voter
List of New
Area
Delete from
Voter List of
Old Area
_ _
3 _
3 _
_ _
_ _
_ _
_ _
_ _
_ _
6 0
6
Teacher Constituency
Add to Voter
List of New
Area
Delete from
Voter List of
Old Area
_ _
3 _
3 _
_ _
_ _
_ _
_ _
_ _
_ _
6 0
6
Grand Total 32 minutes
Conclusion New IT system will Need 85% Less Time
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38

New IT Based Voter
Registration System
39

1000
All Potential Applicants
100
Misinformed
As lakhs of citizens register, he
also gets informed by his
friends that he can also apply
and Register as Voter in Pune
Does Not Care
150
One can now get his Voter
Id Card in just 4 days. So, he
also decides to Apply
Afraid of Hassles
New IT Based
system is really
citizen friendly and
fast. So he also
decides to Apply
Aware,
Determined &
Responsible
Citizen
Confused
Now there is no confusion,
as one can Apply Online. So
he also is able to Apply
Missed the Chance
Voter Registration facility is
now open for 365 days in the
year. So he is also able to
register.
150
150
Lost Confidence in Election Department
Now 100 percent Applicants get their
name added to the Voter List. So he also
decides to Apply again.
150
150
150
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40

Near Zero Rejection of Application Forms
The Online Application form will Automatically
Verify the data entered in Application Form.
It will Highlight the mistakes and give error
messages if -
1. Information entered is Incomplete
2. Information entered is Not Correct
3. Required Proof documents are not uploaded
The Application form will get submitted only if it is
correct in all aspects. So there will be no rejection
of Application forms
1000
Day 1 Simple and Small, Easy to fill Application Form
1. 1 page small form instead of current 3 page form.
(Current form has lot of repeated fields which can be removed
in the Online form)
2. Near each field, clear instructions will be provided about how to fill it.
3. Once address is entered a Google Map window will Pop out. It will
highlight the 'Square' (1km * 1km area) in which the Applicant's
residence area lies. All the Sections (Housing Societies) in this 'Square'
will then be displayed. The Applicant can select his own Section (Housing
Society). Then IT system will then automatically provide following info -
a) Constituency b) Part Number (Polling Station Number)
c) Serial Number
4. Scanned copy of required proof documents (Id proof, address proof
and Date of birth proof) should be uploaded
5. Suggestion - A National Unique Identification Number field (Like
Aadhaar Card, PAN number) can be a added to this Application form.
This will help to ensure that a person will not be able to apply twice for
Voter Id Cards and do bogus voting
Day 2
First Verification: Comparing Uploaded Proof
Docs with Data entered in Application Form
1. It is checked that the Uploaded document
is a valid doc for this purpose. For example
uploading Driver License as Id proof is valid,
but to upload an office Employee Id card as Id
proof is not valid.
2. It is checked whether the data entered in
Application form matches with the info
present in Proof doc ( For example Address
entered in Application form matches with
Address in proof doc)
Failed in Verification
SMS/Email is sent to Applicant to inform him about
the Reason for Rejection. Applicant can now login
again to Online Application System. He should
correct the mistakes in his Application form and
submit again.
50
1050
50
1000
Filling and Submitting Application Form & 1st Round of Verification
Home 41

Passed in First Verification, SMS/Email Notification Sent
SMS and Email is sent to Applicant to inform that -
1. His Application has got Passed in First Round of
Verification
2. This SMS/Email will also have the address and phone
number of the Voter Help Center (VHC) where he needs
to take his Original proof documents for verification.
This VHC will be at a distance of just 2-3 kms from his
home.
It will be open 7 days a week from 2 pm to 11pm.
Day 3
Second Verification: Comparing Uploaded Proof Docs
with Original Proof Documents
In this step it is checked that the uploaded soft copy of
proof doc is same as the Original proof doc brought by
the Applicant for verification
This step is necessary, as today it is very easy to
create a fake soft copy version of proof document
using commonly available image editing software. So
the government needs to check the Original proof
document
1000
1000
Successfully Cleared 1st
round of Verification
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42

Successfully Cleared 2nd
Day 4 Name Added to Voter List & Voter Id Card Printed
1. Information entered in Election Department's Database &
Voter Id Card is 100 percent accurate as all details like -
name/age/address etc had been entered by the Applicant
himself in the Online form.
2. All information entered in Application form is safely stored
in the Database. (In the Old Paper Application form System
many important information like Mobile number/Email Id
extra was not stored)
3. An Email/SMS notification is sent to the Applicant to
inform him about this. The SMS/Email also has the address
and phone number of the Voter Help Center (VHC) from
where he can collect his Voter Id Card.
100 percent of Applicants receive their Voter Id Cards
Election Dept Database Stores all important information
1. It stores Mobile Number, Email id and Full/Accurate
Address of all voters. This gives government the facility to
inform voters about any important action, e.g. deletion of their
name from voter list.
2. Form 6/7/8/8A submitted by Applicants
3. ID, Age and Address Proof docs submitted by Applicants
4. Identity of election dept employees who Approved/
Processed/ Rejected that application form. Details of actions
performed by these election department employee.
If complaints come about Large scale Deletion of Genuine
Voters or Large scale Addition of Bogus Voters to the voter list;
then this facility will allow us to investigate the problem
properly. Strict action can be taken against those responsible for
such wrong doings. This will ensure that such issues are not
repeated in the future.
1000
Home
43

Successfully Cleared 2nd
Day 4 Name Added to Voter List & Voter Id Card Printed
1. Information entered in Election Department's Database &
Voter Id Card is 100 percent accurate as all details like -
name/age/address etc had been entered by the Applicant
himself in the Online form.
2. All information entered in Application form is safely stored
in the Database. (In the Old Paper Application form System
many important information like Mobile number/Email Id
extra was not stored)
3. An Email/SMS notification is sent to the Applicant to
inform him about this. The SMS/Email also has the address
and phone number of the Voter Help Center (VHC) from
where he can collect his Voter Id Card.
100 percent of Applicants receive their Voter Id Cards
Election Dept Database Stores all important information
1. It stores Mobile Number, Email id and Full/Accurate
Address of all voters. This gives government the facility to
inform voters about any important action, e.g. deletion of their
name from voter list.
3. ID, Age and Address Proof docs submitted by Applicants
4. Identity of election dept employees who Approved/
Processed/ Rejected that application form. Details of actions
performed by these election department employee.
If complaints come about Large scale Deletion of Genuine
Voters or Large scale Addition of Bogus Voters to the voter list;
then this facility will allow us to investigate the problem
properly. Strict action can be taken against those responsible for
such wrong doings. This will ensure that such issues are not
repeated in the future.
1000
Home
44

Benefits of
New IT Based Voter
Registration System
45

1. Time Required To Get Registered As Voter
names of Bogus Voters from the Voter List
Current System New IT Based System
Up to 1 year
 Usually the Voter List is updated and Voter ID
card are Printed only once in a year (during Jan-
Feb month). So, if you had applied in February
2013, then your name would have got added to
voter list only by end of January 2014
 You will get your Voter ID card in just 4 days.
2. Voter Registration Drive Duration
 Voter Registration facility is usually available for
Only 2 Months in a year (September-October).
 Voter Registration facility will be available for
365 days in the year.
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46

3. Ease of Filling Application Form
Very Complex
 Currently Govt has very poor maps of Assembly
Constituencies. It is very difficult for general
public to identify even their constituency.
 Currently the Applicant is expected to fill even his
"Polling Booth Number", which is very difficult to
find out.
 1000's of Applications are Rejected by Election
department because this field is not filled.
Simple
 We NGOs have created high quality maps of each
Constituency using Google Maps. We can provide
these maps to Election Department.
 Also the complex fields like - Polling Booth
Number, Constituency name etc will be
automatically filled by the IT system.
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47

4. Ease of Submitting Application Form
 Multiple Lengthy trips to Election Office are
Required
 You can easily fill and submit the Application
form Online (via Internet), while sitting at home
 Currently there are 11 Constituency Level
Offices.
 60 Voter Help Center (VHC) will be set up.
5. Accessibility of Election Offices
 All these 11 offices are concentrated in just 2
areas - the Collector Office and the PCMC
building.
 These VHC offices will be distributed
equally across all areas in Pune.
 Thus many citizens will have to travel 15-20 km
to reach the Election Office.
 Thus a citizen will have to travel less than
3 km to reach the nearest polling booth.
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48

6. Working Hours of Election Office
 Election Offices are usually open only from
Monday to Friday - 10.30 am to 6 pm. It is very
difficult for office goers to come during this time.
 Each VHC will be a one room office and will have
4 employees. It could be set up as an additional
room in Post Offices. It will be open 7 days a
week and 365 days a year. The 3 employees in a
VHC will get their weekly off on different days.
Thus the office will stay open throughout the
whole week.
 The working hours of VHC will be 2pm to 11pm.
Housewives/ Women will find the 2pm to 6 pm
time period convenient. Office goers will prefer
to come in the 6 pm to 11 pm time period.
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49

7. Election Department Team Structure
Full Time: 11 Part Time: 4000+
 The current system has predominantly Part Time
employees. Due to this they are themselves not
aware of many of the rules an regulations of
Voter Registration process. This leads to lot of
errors and large number of application forms are
wrongly rejected.
Full Time: 240 Part Time: 0
 The proposed system will have a smaller but well
trained, Full Time staff which has good
IT/Computer skills.
Home
50

8. Quality of Service Provided
Very Poor Service
 Usually No Acknowledgement Slip is Provided
Excellent Service
 Acknowledgement provided by Email and SMS
Home
51
 No Facility to Track Status of Application  Application Status can be Tracked Online
 Usually No information is given to Applicant about
why there Application was rejected.
 If Application rejected then Email & SMS sent to
inform about reason for rejection. Applicant can
Correct the mistake and Reapply.
 Only 60% of the Applicants get their name
successfully added to Voter List.
 100% applicants get name added to Voter List
 Huge amount of error in Applicant detail entered in
Voter List - wrong name, surname, age etc. In fact
more than 50% of voters in voter list face this
problem.
 100% accurate details entered – name, age,
surname etc
 Every Single Address entered in Voter List database is
wrong/ incomplete. This happens as government has not
added 90-95% of Housing Societies in Pune to
their IT system as Sections.
 100% applicants get full and correct
address entered

9. Notifying/Informing the Applicant
Today the Election Department's database does Not
store Phone Number, Email id or Correct Address of
the Applicant. So it has no method to notify citizens
about important information like –
 No Alert/Notification is sent to Voter when his
Voter ID Card is Printed or name is added to
Voter List.
Phone Number, Email id and Complete/Accurate Address of
the Applicant will be Stored in the Database of the Election
Department.
 Email & SMS Alert sent when name added to Voter List or
Voter Id Card is printed
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52
 Due to this people have no Idea about when/where
to collect their Voter Id Card and less than 20% of
printed Voter ID Cards are collected by citizens.
 100% applicants receive their Voter ID Cards
 In 2014 Lok Sabha election, more than 1 Lakh voters in Pune
were Deprived of their Democratic Right to Vote as their
names had been Wrongly Deleted from the Voter list.
Such problem will be avoided in the new system as a
Notification/ Alert will be sent to the citizen by ALL 3 modes –
SMS, Email and Postal Letter when his name is deleted from
the Voter List. The citizen can immediately follow up and ensure
that his name is added back to the Voter List before the
election.

10. Storing ALL Info related to Additions & Deletions made in Voter List
 In the current paper based system, it is Impossible
to Store the information related to
addition/deletion/modification of names, to the
Voter List. Examples of such information are -
2. ID, Age and Address Proof documents
submitted by Applicants
3. Identity of election dept employees who
Approved/ Processed/ Rejected that application
form. Details of actions performed by these
election department employee.
Even if this information was stored, it would be
impossible to pick out the required document from
tonnes of stored paper bundles.
 All details (Forms 6/7/8/8A, Proof Docs, Election
Officer's identity and Action taken by him) will be
Safely Stored in the IT based system. The IT based
system will also allow us to Easily Access this
information at the Click of a button.
Advantage -
More than 4 lakh names (25% of entire voter list) were
deleted from the voter list of Pune Constituency in just 1
year - 2013. Thousands and even Lakhs of Citizens have
complained that their name was wrongly deleted.
This facility will allow us to investigate such problems
properly. Strict action can be taken against those
responsible for large scale wrong doings. This will ensure
that such issues are not repeated in the future.
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53

11. Enrolment to Graduate Constituency & Teacher Constituency
Maharashtra has a 78 seat Vidhan Parishad. It is equivalent to Rajya Sabha at national level. Of these 78 seats, 14
seats are elected by Teachers and Graduate citizens of Maharashtra. To vote for these seats a person needs to
enrol in appropriate Graduate & Teacher Constituencies.
Very Low Enrolment
 There is very Low awareness about this rule. Also
citizens need to submit 3 separate application
forms to register to General Voter, Graduate and
Teacher Constituencies. Citizens get discouraged
by so much hassle.
Full Enrolment
 Only One simple Application form needs to be
submitted Online to register to all 3 types of
constituency.
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54

12. Efficiency of Voter Registration Process
Manual, Duplication of Effort and Error Prone
Process
 Currently if a Citizen changes his address and
wants to transfer his General, Graduate and
Teacher Constituency registration; then he needs
to submit 6 Separate Application forms. (3 to add
name in new constituencies and 3 to delete name
from old constituencies)
 Due to a Manual, Repetitive process Election
Department needs to put nearly 4 hours of effort
to process these 6 applications from a single
citizen.
Automated, Well Designed Process resulting in Zero
Errors
 A citizen will need to submit Only 1 Application Form
to transfer his General, Graduate and Teacher
Constituency registration.
 Using the Automated IT system, all the requests of an
Applicant can be processed with just 30 minutes of
effort
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55

13. Environment Friendliness
 1.2 crore pages* used per year
This will cost 1 crore rupees
1500 trees are Cut down to make this much paper
Huge amount of space and effort is required to
store this paper and to transport it.
(* Based on 12 lakh citizens Applying in 1 year)
 Zero paper required
56
Home
56

14. Number of Applicants in 1 year
 1.1 Lakh Applicants
Due to all the problems with the current system
(as mentioned above), only around 10 percent of
eligible citizens apply to register as Voters.
 10 Lakh Applicants
(i.e. it is Expected to Increase by nearly 10 times)
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57

Modernizing our Voter Registration System to Awaken Indian Democracy

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