eVoting app certified for Aadhaar-based biometric votes in future elections by Indian government

India’s government has certified online voting startup Right2Vote for use in future elections by Indian citizens abroad or residing in a state other than the one they are eligible in to cast votes, Inc42 reports. The identity of the voter is verified either through a selfie, Aadhaar fingerprint or iris biometrics, or Aadhaar OTP.

For the mobile software platform to be used, it must receive final approval from the country’s parliament. Right2Vote claims to provide secret ballots, audit trails, server confirmation, voter records, voter receipts, double authentication, Aadhaar-based authentication, personalized notifications and voting reminders. It works through a browser or Android or iOS app.

There are an estimated 20 million eligible Indian voters living outside of the country, and another 300 million residing in the country who have migrated from one state to another. Beyond public elections, publicly traded companies in India are required to have eVoting facilities for shareholders under The New Companies Act 2013. More than 100 companies currently use Right2Vote to meet these requirements, according to Inc42.

Maharashtra State Election Commission is also running a pilot project to use Right2Vote for panchayat (village council) elections.

The Electoral Commission of India previously tried to implement Aadhaar authentication for voting with the controversial 2015 National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), which may be revived. Meanwhile, biometric voting app Voatz has been expanding trials for absentee ballots in the U.S.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  authentication  |  biometrics  |  identity verification  |  India  |  mobile app  |  voting