The Election Commission of India (ECI) will use facial recognition technology in a polling booth in Bengaluru, which could be the first time it is used in an assembly poll, amid concerns from activists about privacy.

The system will be piloted at one polling station — Room no. 2, Government Ramnarayan Chellaram College on Palace Road, near the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer — for the assembly elections on May 10.

How does it work?

EC officials told Moneycontrol that voters at this polling station would need to download the EC's Chunavana mobile application. After keying in their Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number, mobile number and generating an OTP, they will need to upload a selfie through the app. Once a voter reached the polling booth, he/she would undergo facial recognition scanning for verification. If the photo matched with EC's database, the voter would not need to provide any documents and will be cleared to cast his/her vote. EC officials said the system would reduce waiting times/long queues and prevent bogus voting and electoral malpractices.

This system is similar to DigiYatra, which is a biometric boarding system facilitated for passengers at airports to reduce queues.

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“We identified this booth in Shivaji Nagar for the pilot project since it has only around 300 voters compared to some 1,500 voters in other booths and also due to its proximity to the CEO's office. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are visiting all the households of the voters in this booth and explaining the new technology. It's not mandatory, and those who do not want to opt for this facility can follow the traditional way. There will be a separate queue for voters availing of this," Karnataka Special Officer (Elections) AV Surya Sen told Moneycontrol.

He added that the system has several advantages. "One, it will cut down the queue/waiting time for voting. Two, less manpower is needed. For instance, instead of four polling officers at a booth, only three can be deployed because there’s no need for further checks/verification due to this face recognition technology."

Officials said this solution came from a 30-hour offline hackathon to tackle voting apathy, where 'Team Wasuli,' students of the department of Computing Technologies from SRM University in Chennai emerged as the grand winner.

The hackathon, named 'Electhon 2023', was organised by the EC along with International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru, and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Team Wasuli comprises students GK Dvijesh Ragav, Sarvottam Kumar Mishra, Mayank Rai and Pranav Kumar. They received a cash prize of 1 lakh for their winning prototype.

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He added that the system has several advantages. "One, it will cut down the queue/waiting time for voting. Two, less manpower is needed. For instance, instead of four polling officers at a booth, only three can be deployed because there’s no need for further checks/verification due to this face recognition technology."

In 2020, the Telangana State Election Commission also used facial recognition technology in 10 polling stations (local body polls) at Kompally municipality of Medchal Malkajgiri district. In that instance, polling staff verified voters’ ID proof using a smartphone and cleared them to cast votes. Later, voters' photos were uploaded to a server using a facial recognition app. Once the photo was matched, a green mark appeared on the smartphone indicating that the voter was genuine. However, many activists have raised concerns in the past saying that this data would be used to profile voters, invade the privacy of citizens, and enable surveillance.

Check parking location, queue at polling booths via app

EC officials said voters will be able to check the availability of parking spaces near polling booths on the Chunavana mobile application. Voters can check the queue status at polling booths in real time through the app. Voters who are senior citizens and differently-abled can also request a wheelchair facility at polling stations through the app. The EC has also facilitated pick-up and drop-off facilities (between the polling station and residence) for elderly and differently-abled voters. The app also provides details of polling booths, contesting candidates, the election schedule, previous election details, a list of officers, details of the nearest police station, and healthcare facilities, among others.

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Shivaji Nagar assembly segment under scanner

It may be recalled that a Congress leader and Shivaji Nagar MLA Rizwan Arshad alleged that 9,195 votes may have been removed after the publication of the electoral rolls. However, the EC clarified that no voter's name had been deleted from the electoral list of the constituency.

In fact, electoral roll revisions in the Shivajinagar, Mahadevapura and Chickpet constituencies were delayed following alleged large-scale voter data theft by a private company. In connection with the voter data theft case, the ECI had instructed to suspend the additional district election officer of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the additional district election officer cum-deputy commissioner of Bengaluru urban district. The EC also appointed special officers from outside the BBMP to oversee and ensure the validity of electoral rolls in Shivajinagar, Mahadevapura, and

Some residents in Shivaji Nagar had also complained that unknown people claiming to be Booth Level Officers visited their houses and collected sensitive information on the pretext of updating electoral rolls. The Karnataka High Court had also directed the EC to complete identifying shifted/dead voters in the Shivajinagar and Shantinagar assembly segments.

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