NEW DELHI: In a first, Chief Electoral’s Office, Delhi has planned to do a webcasting of voting at over half of the total booths in the city on Lok Sabha election day on May 25, offiicals told this newspaper.
For this, an agency will be enrolled for installing the cameras. However, the exercise will not be for public viewing and the access will remain with nine persons.
“Approximately, 7,000 polling stations will be covered with the webcasting. We plan to install 21,000 cameras for this which will cover these polling booths. Access to the live streaming will remain with the Chief Election Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer and seven returning officers from seven constituencies. This is the first Lok Sabha election where we are using this facility,” said a senior election officer.
However, the secrecy of the voting will not be violated, officials said. “The cameras will be installed at angles which do not infringe on the privacy of the people while casting votes. Only the visuals of the verification, inking and the voting compartment (from the outside) can be recorded,” the official quoted above added.
Officials said that the move was taken as per the standing instructions of the Election Commission of India (ECI). “The commission has made it mandatory to cover all vulnerable polling booths with webcast with at least 50 per cent of the total booths. Since the number of such booths is not even ten per cent in the city, we plan to go ahead with the instructions of covering over half of the booths,” another official said.
The CEO’s office will set up 13,713 booths in the city. Meanwhile, officials also said that CCTV cameras will be installed at the polling stations in all constituencies.