Paper detail

Election in India: Polling in National Financial Switch

Indian voters from Kashmir to Kanyakumari select their representatives to form their parliament by going to polls. India's election is one of the largest democratic exercise in the world history. About 850 million eligible voters determine which political party or alliance will form the government and in turn, will serve as prime minister. Given the electoral rules of placing a polling place within 2 kilometers of every habitation, it comes as no surprise that is indeed a humongous task for the Election Commission of India (ECI). It sends around 11 million election workers through tough terrains to reach the last mile. This exercise also comes as ever growing expenditure for the ECI. This paper proposes the use of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and Point Of Sale (POS) machines to be used to cover as much as urban, rural and semi-urban places possible given the wide network of National Financial Switch (NFS) and increase in connectivity through Digital India initiative. This would add to the use of the existing infrastructure to accommodate a free, fair and transparent election.