ECI working on E-Governance Vision 2020, says Nasim Zaidi

New Delhi : Chief Election Commissioner of India Dr. Nasim Zaidi on Tuesday said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is currently working on an E-Governance vision 2020 to provide inclusive, integrated single window view of services to all stakeholders in all phases of the electoral cycle using multiple channel of delivery.

Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on "Leveraging Technology for Transparent and Credible Elections", Dr. Zaidi said increasing the use of ICT in elections is a priority area for virtually every Election Management Bodies (EMB) around the world.

He added that a detailed project report based on service provider concept is ready with five strategic goals and 11 mission mode projects.

He said consultations with stakeholders and industry is underway, and added that under this vision, some of priority areas will be in mobile apps, social media , knowledge and learning management.

Commenting on future endeavors of the ECI, Dr. Zaidi informed that the ECI is preparing to work towards mobile and internet services segments of society for flow of election related information and providing services.

"This will surely enhance transparency of election processes amongst electorates.We are working on finding and evaluating appropriate ICT in preserving and disseminating right information to right people at right time. The India International Institute for Democracy and Election Management under ECI is setting up an E-learning Centre for creation of live and virtual environment for capacity building," he said.

Dr. Zaidi emphasized that the use of technology has helped in countless ways in simplifying, streamlining and speeding up virtually all aspects of electoral cycles.

"Technological use has contributed enormously to transparency and credibility of the electoral processes. From the process of elector registration to polling booth management, voting process management, counting, trends and results dissemination requiring voluminous data crunching and effective process management, ICT has been providing significant support in different facets of elections in India," he added.

Expressing his security concerns over the use of ICT ,Dr Zaidi said, "The biggest challenge in using ICT by EMBs lies in relation to ICT security, certification and third party auditing. No electoral democracy can afford to have a technology that fails at its simplest and can be manipulated or subjected to malpractices at its worst. This can demolish the credibility of elections."

The aim of the seminar is to share mutual experiences, so that EMBs can learn the information and communications technologies (ICT) tools required to enhance transparency and credibility of their electoral process.

Ms Rasario Graciano De Los Santos, Commissioner, Central Electoral Board, Domician Republic also spoke at the occasion.

Election Commissioners A.K. Jyoti and O.P Rawat, Participants from Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) Executive Board, including Dominican Republic, Romania, Republic of Korea, Kenya, South Africa, India, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Kyrgyz Republic, Albania, El Salvador and Bosania and Herzegovina and senior officers of ECI also attended the seminar, which was organised by Election commission of India on the occasion of Executive Board meeting of A-WEB.