Indian Polity
Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System
- 22 Jul 2019
- 2 min read
The Election Commission of India’s Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System has recorded a highest service voter turnout ratio during Lok sabha election 2019.
- ETPBS enables the entitled service voters to cast their vote (on electronically received postal ballot) from their preferred location, which is outside their originally assigned voting constituency.
- Service voters: Individuals working in central forces under arms act and government officials deployed in embassies outside the country are classified as service voters and are provisioned for online enrolment.
- It is developed by the Election Commission of India with the help of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), for the use of the service voters.
Eligibility
- Classified service voters, other than those who opt for proxy voting.
- The wife of a service voter who ordinarily resides with him.
- Overseas voters
Features
- Flexibility: Service voters can avail this service from anywhere outside their assigned constituency.
- Database: System facilitates creation of service voter electoral roll data.
- Secure: It is a secure system, having two layer of security:
- OTP (one time password) is required to download encrypted electronically transmitted postal ballot file.
- PIN is required to decrypt, print and deliver ETPB.
- Less time consuming: Time constraint involved in dispatch of postal ballot has been addressed using this system, as it sends postal ballots electronically to eligible service voters.
- No duplication: Secrecy is maintained and no duplication of casted ETPB is possible due to the unique quick response code.
