ELECTRONICALLY TRANSMITTED POSTAL BALLOT SYSTEM (ETPBS)
22, Jul 2019
Prelims level : Polity & Governance- Elections and Electoral Reforms
Mains level : GS-II- Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Why in News?
- In the recently concluded 2019 general elections, the Election Commission of India used Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) for service voters.
Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS):
- Persons working in Central Forces under Arms Act and Government officials deployed in Embassies outside the country are classified as Service Voters.
- Such service voters are provisioned for online enrolment.
- On the introduction of the ETPBS, there has been a record turnout of service voters. 18,02,646 were enrolled as Service Electors in 2019. This is a high of 60.14% as recorded by the E-postal ballot.
- The number of service voters included those from the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs (Central Armed Police Forces), Ministry of External Affairs and the State Police.
- ETPBS is developed by Election Commission of India with the help of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
- This system enables the entitled service voters to cast their vote using an electronically received postal ballot from anywhere outside their constituency. The voters who make such a choice will be entitled for Postal Ballot delivered through Electronic Media for a particular election.
- It enables the voters to cast their vote on an electronically received postal ballot from their preferred location, which is outside their originally assigned voting constituency.
- This system addresses the issue of time constraint for dispatch of postal ballot.
Who are eligible to avail of ETPBS?
- Service Voters, other than those who opt for proxy voting (Classified Service Voters)
- The wife of a Service Voter who ordinarily resides with him
- Overseas Voters
Advantages of ETPBS:
- It can be availed by service voters from anywhere outside their constituency.
- It is easy and efficient.
- It facilitates the creation of service voter electoral roll data.
- It has two-layered security and is a secure system.
- OTP is required to download encrypted Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot file.
- Secrecy is maintained and no duplicate of casted ETPB is possible due to QR code.
- PIN is required to decrypt, print and deliver ETPB.