Bihar Nagar Nikay Chunav 2023: SEC Uses Facial Recognition System During Polls, To Provide Live Feed On Results Day

Bihar Municipal Elections 2023: The SEC used a cutting-edge Facial Recognition System to confirm voters' identities. Read on to know more about the electoral process of the recent civic body polls.

The State Election Commission used an advanced Facial Recognition System to verify voter identity in the Bihar Municipal Elections 2023. (Representational Image)

Source : PTI

The Bihar State Election Commission on Saturday said that it used cutting-edge technology to ensure fair and transparent municipal elections in 2023. For the first time, the commission used a Facial Recognition System (FRS) to confirm voters' identities. The elections, which were held in 31 municipalities across the state, saw a total turnout of 60.19%. The elections featured 4431 candidates, including 2197 men and 2234 women, the SEC said in an official statement. 

The counting of votes will be held on June 11, and the results will be announced from the OCR i.e. optical character recognition system of the data received from EVMs, it said. 

As the counting day approaches, the SEC remains committed to ensuring a peaceful environment and providing citizens with easily accessible online platforms to view election results, it read further. 

The SEC took the following steps to ensure a fair and transparent electoral process:

• Improved voter identification: The SEC introduced the Facial Recognition System (FRS) to improve voter identification. The FRS takes a photograph of each voter and compares it to their voter ID card. This helps to prevent voter impersonation and other electoral fraud. This is for the first time that such a system is employed to verify the identity of voters through photographs.
• Increased voter turnout: The SEC took several steps to increase voter turnout. These steps include making it easier to register to vote, providing transportation to polling stations, and holding voter education campaigns.
• Secured polling stations: The SEC deployed security forces at all polling stations to prevent violence and other disruptions.
• Webcasting and online monitoring: The SEC webcasted the voting process and monitored it online. This helped to ensure that the elections are conducted fairly and that there is no interference from any unauthorised individuals or groups.
• Accessible online platforms: The SEC has made it easy for citizens to view the election results online. This included providing a live feed of the results as they come in, as well as a searchable database of the results.  

The SEC stated in its statement that the storage location of polled Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), known as Bajgruha, was sealed with a digital lock in accordance with the commission's instructions.

Armed police officers have been stationed at the counting centres to ensure a peaceful and fair counting process, according to the statement. 

To address any disruptions or complaints during the counting process, the State Election Commission has established control rooms at the municipality/district/commission level, the statement read further.