The State Election Commission is impressed with Thane Municipal Commissioner (TMC) R A Rajeev’s idea of counting the votes immediately after the polling, and will urge nine other civic corporations to follow suit. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is opposed to the idea, and will have the counting a day after the February 16 polls. In the system adopted by TMC, the polling stations are mapped and connected to a central server through SIM cards that will be used in a protected manner (Thane civic polls are slated for February 16). These SIM cards will be given to polling station staff through which they can communicate only to the control room number and the server.
The presiding officer will convey the results to the control room, where they will be tabulated. The system has been approved by the Election Commission. State Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan said she has requested R A Rajeev to give a presentation of the technology to other civic body chiefs whose corporations are going to polls on February 16.
The BMC top brass, however, is opposed to the idea of having counting on the day of the polling. “We have taken a decision on having counting the next day,” BMC Commissioner Subodh Kumar said.
Full Article: EC lauds Thane’s e-voting but BMC snubs the system, News – City – Mumbai Mirror.