On 10 August 2020, India’s Election Commission (EC) discussed how to address geographical voting issues and proposed using blockchain technology as the solution for remote voting. When debating location voting issues, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra voiced concerns of transparency and voter security regarding using a distributed consensus mechanism. He asserted that if a blockchain solution is to be used, it must be as clear and transparent as possible for voters, as reported by the Indian Express.
As with plenty of other political systems across the globe, India is no stranger to issues in its electoral system. The Indian Journal of Research describes how its majority system ‘leads to divisive politics’, and how its money power influence leaves votes being treated like ‘market goods through buying and selling.’ Missing voters, citizens who are unable or denied the opportunity to vote are also a major problem. Electoral data from the Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy and the Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer’s website shows that 15% of citizens were not included in the voter lists.
If remote voting is permitted, blockchain could easily help with this issue, in order to ‘facilitate easy participation [for voters] who are not able to come to the polling station,’ according to Secretary-General Umesh Sinha. A question that remains is which of the blockchain networks is safe, secure, scalable and trustworthy enough for the challenge?
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