General Elections To The House of People Nomination

General Elections To The House of People Nomination Form For Best Electoral Practices Awards-2014 Nomination for: Innovation in areas like technology use (m-governance) 1. Poll Day Monitoring System (PDMS). 2. Strong Room Monitoring System Name of the Officer Designation/ Post during the period of consideration Dheeraj Kumar (IAS) Collector and District Election Officer, Nanded (Maharashtra) Present Designation Collector and District Election Officer, Nanded

16 – Nanded Loksabha Consituency No. & Name of the Assembly Constituency Total No. of Electors MEN WOMEN OTHER S TOTAL 85 -Bhokar 117907 3 249052 86 -Nanded North 163232 147419 0 310651 87 -Nanded South 150703 137450 0 288153 89 -Naigaon 138507 130091 0 268598 90 -Degloor (SC) 144391 135150 0 279541 91 -Mukhed 138394 126944 0 265338 16 -NANDED P. C 16 – Nanded PC marked in green color 131142 866369 794961 3 1661333

Poll Day Monitoring System (An m-governance project by DEO Nanded) Introduction 1. Poll Day Monitoring System (PDMS) intends to monitor the poll progress at each polling station in 16 – Nanded Loksabha Constituency. 2. Hon. ECI and Hon. CEO Office requires poll percentage of every two hour from the Loksabha constituency. 3. Traditionally this information is collected from the field level officials and is compiled at RO level.

Traditional Information Flow The information flow take much time to report higher offices and involves lot of manual work and machinery for collection of information.

Process Reengineering 1. During Loksabha Election 2014, District Election Officer, Nanded had taken decision to collect the poll percentage with the help of mobile technology. 2. Achieving m-governance the district has successfully implemented poll day monitoring system with help of SMS. 3. The information flow in this system is as shown in following diagram.

Process Re-engineered

Preparatory Work Done 1. Survey of mobile signal availability at each polling station 2. Documentation of PREPOLL AND POLLDAY SMS codes 3. Software development with help of local NIC Centre Nanded 4. Pull SMS gateway from CDAC, Mumbai 5. Web space for SMS operation 6. Two trainings for Presiding Officers at sponsoring ARO level 7. Final training at Receiving ARO for Presiding Officers --> Mobile number of all presiding officers were collected during these trainings and it was ensured that the PDMS software will accept only SMS from registered numbers in the system

Testing 1. Mock testing (dry run) of this software was done with the help of Zonal Officers. 2. All the Zonal officers traveled as per route plan to every polling station and they have tested the system by sending SMS from the location. 3. This has helped to track the signal quality and effectiveness of the system. This exercise was carried out on 12/04/2014. 4. The destination for SMS was marked on numbers like 166 / 51969 given by service provider

Training to Presiding Officers 1. Training was given to the presiding officers during poll related trainings. 2. In all 1866 presiding officers and 334 reserved staff was trained on this system. 3. Trainings were arranged as per the dates decided by AROs 4. Operation manual was prepared in Marathi language for better understanding and was circulated during training. 5. Apart from operation manual a handy one page write up was provided while parties were collecting poll material

Execution With this preparatory work the PDMS system was launched on 15 th April 2014. The various SMS codes for PREPOLL and POLLDAY defined were as: 1. Pre-Poll Activity (16 th April 2014) PREPOLL DAY ACTIVITY CODE POLL MATERIAL COLLECTED MH NAND 01 POLLING PARTY DISPATCHED MH NAND 02 POLLING PARTY ARRIVED MH NAND 03 POLL BOOTH ESTABLISHED MH NAND 04

2. Poll Day Activity (17 th April 2014) POLL DAY ACTIVITY MOCK POLL STARTED MOCK POLL CONCLUDED IN ABSENCE OF POLLING AGENT POLL STARTED EVM FAULTY POLLING STATION WHERE POLL CLOSED AT SCHEDULE TIME POLLING STATION WHERE VOTERS IN QUEUE AT THE CLOSING TIME POLLING PARTY REACHED AT RECEIVING CENTER POLL PERCENTAGE 9 AM POLL PERCENTAGE 11 AM POLL PERCENTAGE 1 PM POLL PERCENTAGE 3 PM POLL PERCENTAGE 5 PM EMERGENCY CODES EMERGENCY - BOOTH CAPTURED EMERGENCY - RIOTS AT POLLING STATION EMERGENCY – MEDICAL EMERGENCY- ANY OTHER CODE MH NAND 11 MH NAND 12 MH NAND 13 MH NAND 14 MH NAND 15 MH NAND 17 MH NAND 18 MH NAND 19 MH NAND 21 MH NAND 22 MH NAND 23 MH NAND 24 MH NAND 25 MH NAND 07 MH NAND 08 MH NAND 09 MH NAND 10

RO level interface

Cost to Government 1. 2. 3. 4. The entire project was developed in-house. There was no exchequer to Election department except extra bandwidth along with web space. Additionally, a honorarium of Rs 30/- was given to presiding officers as charges for sending SMS from their cell phone. CDAC, Mumbai has provided pull SMS free of cost and credited 30, 000 SMS pack for auto reply.

Bottlenecks 1. 2. 3. Despite all efforts some presiding could not send SMS or sometimes signals went off on the booths. Still standby arrangements were made and helpline was provided to all presiding officers who couldn’t send SMS, in those cases figures were collected telephonically. Due to network problem some SMS received late or got fail

Outcome 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. For the first time the poll percentage and booth level incidences were monitored with help of technology and more than 15, 000 SMS were recorded on the server. EVM problems reported quickly. Poll percentage was reported quickly and accurately to ECI and CEO Office. Percentage received traditionally and via PDMS was tallied with a difference of less than 2%, this has shown reliability of the system used. Arrival and Dispatch reports of Polling parties were available in no time. Hon. Observer from ECI has also appreciated the system.

SMS Statistics PREPOLL DAY SMS POLL MATERIAL COLLECTED - PMC 554 POLLING PARTY DISPATCHED - PPD 1061 POLLING PARTY ARRIVED - PPA 1381 POLL BOOTH ESTABLISHED - PBE 1549 TOTAL SMS ON PRE-POLL DAY 4545

POLL-DAY ACTIVITY SMS MOCK POLL STARTED - MPS 1431 MOCK POLL CONDUCTED - MPC 1311 MOCK POLL CONDUCTED IN ABSENCE OF 236 POLLING AGENT - MPCA POLL STARTED - PSD 1456 EVM FAULTY - EVM 17

POLL PERCENTAGE 9 AM 1254 POLL PERCENTAGE 11 AM 1591 POLL PERCENTAGE 1 PM 1572 POLL PERCENTAGE 3 PM 1467 POLL PERCENTAGE 5 PM 664 POLLING STATION WHERE POLL CLOSED AT 778 SCHEDULE TIME - PCST POLLING STATION WHERE VOTERS IN QUEUE 40 AT THE TIME - PVQT

POLLING PARTY REACHED AT RECEIVING CENTRE - PRRC BOOTH CAPTURE - BCP (wrongly sent) RIOT AT POLL - RAP (wrongly sent) MEDICAL EMERGENCY - MEM (wrongly sent) OTHER - OTR (wrongly sent) 326 TOTAL SMS ON POLLDAY TOTAL SMS (PRE AND POLL DAY) 12160 16705 2 6 4

Training Session

Help Line One Landline was provided for each of the 6 Assembly Segments

Media Recognition

Media Recognition

Strong Room Monitoring System (An m-governance project by DEO Nanded) Introduction Strong Room Monitoring System (SRMS) intends to monitor the EVMs placed in a secure place till the counting commences. As per the guidelines given by ECI and CEO office dated 5 th April 2014 and 24 th April 2014, it is mandatory to install closed circuit cameras round the clock and strict vigilance of the strong room. The SRMS was intended to remote surveillance of strong room with the help of mobile and website. .

Process Reengineering 1. 2. 3. During Loksabha Election 2014, District Election Officer, Nanded had taken decision to relay live footage of strong room via mobile apps and website of district administration. Traditionally strong room was monitored by the officials and representatives of contesting candidates with their physical presence. With the advent of new technology, a mobile apps was installed on the android device of contesting candidates and district level officials so that they can monitor the strong room by sitting at remote place.

Preparatory Work Done 1. CCTV feasibility survey 2. Installation of 16 no of cameras on two floors of the strong room 3. Broadband connection for live relay 4. LCD displays on each floor for 24 X 7 monitoring from CPF personnel’s 5. Configuration of the cameras to mobile apps

The Ground Floor Plan of strong room

The First Floor Plan of strong room

Testing 1. After installation of the entire system, live testing was done by DEO, Supdt. of Police and other officials involved in vigilance. 2. This ensured the reliability and sustainability of the system.

Execution 1. Execution of the SRMS started in midnight of 17 th April 2014. The mobile sets of contesting candidates were configured as per the demand at no cost. 2. Care has been taken for seamless connectivity to avoid disconnections 3. This made an impact that not a single candidate demanded to make his/her physical presence in form of camp at strong room.

Snap Shots

Snap Shots

Control Room

Reyes – apps for live transmission

Outcome 1. Expenditure towards camp arrangements of contesting candidates was curtailed 2. For the first time m-governance was used in surveillance of strong room in 16 - Nanded Parliamentary Constituency 3. Faith in district administration was increased due to transparent initiatives 4. Good impact on public and candidates for the efforts taken by DEO Nanded 5. not a single candidate demanded to make his/her physical presence in form of camp at strong room.

Media Recognition

Other ‘E’nitiatives

Web Casting 1. As per the guidelines of Hon. ECI Web casting was done for 38 locations in 16 -Nanded. 2. The uniqueness was that the web casting was carried out with help from Students of local engineering college. 3. The entire project has become cost economical, with this experiment. 4. Cost per polling centre was Rs. 3600(including hardware, software and bandwidth). 5. A team of 3 students was deployed at each polling station. 6. This experiment has added a sense of electoral process and importance to the students and considerable amount has been saved.

Glimpse

Other ‘E’nitiatives - contd… • EVM randomization software was developed locally as directed by Hon. CEO Office. • A group on whats app was created for all election related officials. This made an instantaneous communication. • A computer cell was established for 24 X 7 to deal all technology matters of Hon. ECI and Hon. CEO office. 02462 -245946 with additional 5 hunting lines were provided for this purpose. • A separate section was created on District website for latest updates.

Thank You…. .