1. 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 OfficerDheeraj Kumar (IAS) Designation/ Post during the period of consideration Collector and District Election Officer, Nanded (Maharashtra) Present DesignationCollector and District Election Officer, Nanded

2. 16 – Nanded Loksabha Consituency No.& Name of the Assembly Constituency Total No. of Electors MEN WOMEN OTHER S TOTAL 85-Bhokar1311421179073249052 86-Nanded North 1632321474190310651 87-Nanded South 1507031374500288153 89-Naigaon 1385071300910268598 90-Degloor (SC) 1443911351500279541 91-Mukhed 1383941269440265338 16-NANDED P.C 86636979496131661333 16 – Nanded PC marked in green color

3. 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. (An m-governance project by DEO Nanded) Poll Day Monitoring System

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

5. 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 Reengineering

6. Process Re-engineered

7. 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 Preparatory Work Done

8. 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 Testing

9. 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 Training to Presiding Officers

10. 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) Execution PREPOLL DAY ACTIVITYCODE POLL MATERIAL COLLECTEDMH NAND 01 POLLING PARTY DISPATCHEDMH NAND 02 POLLING PARTY ARRIVEDMH NAND 03 POLL BOOTH ESTABLISHEDMH NAND 04

11. 2.Poll Day Activity (17 th April 2014) POLL DAY ACTIVITYCODE MOCK POLL STARTEDMH NAND 11 MOCK POLL CONCLUDEDMH NAND 12 MOCK POLL CONCLUDED IN ABSENCE OF POLLING AGENTMH NAND 13 POLL STARTEDMH NAND 14 EVM FAULTYMH NAND 15 POLLING STATION WHERE POLL CLOSED AT SCHEDULE TIMEMH NAND 17 POLLING STATION WHERE VOTERS IN QUEUE AT THE CLOSING TIME MH NAND 18 POLLING PARTY REACHED AT RECEIVING CENTERMH NAND 19 POLL PERCENTAGE 9 AMMH NAND 21 POLL PERCENTAGE 11AMMH NAND 22 POLL PERCENTAGE 1PMMH NAND 23 POLL PERCENTAGE 3PMMH NAND 24 POLL PERCENTAGE 5PMMH NAND 25 EMERGENCY CODES EMERGENCY - BOOTH CAPTUREDMH NAND 07 EMERGENCY - RIOTS AT POLLING STATIONMH NAND 08 EMERGENCY – MEDICALMH NAND 09 EMERGENCY- ANY OTHERMH NAND 10

12. RO level interface

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

15. 1.Despite all efforts some presiding could not send SMS or sometimes signals went off on the booths. 2.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. 3.Due to network problem some SMS received late or got fail Bottlenecks

16. 1.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. 2.EVM problems reported quickly. 3.Poll percentage was reported quickly and accurately to ECI and CEO Office. 4.Percentage received traditionally and via PDMS was tallied with a difference of less than 2%, this has shown reliability of the system used. 5.Arrival and Dispatch reports of Polling parties were available in no time. 6.Hon. Observer from ECI has also appreciated the system. Outcome

17. SMS Statistics PREPOLL DAYSMS POLL MATERIAL COLLECTED - PMC 554 POLLING PARTY DISPATCHED - PPD1061 POLLING PARTY ARRIVED - PPA1381 POLL BOOTH ESTABLISHED - PBE1549 TOTAL SMS ON PRE-POLL DAY4545

18. POLL-DAY ACTIVITYSMS MOCK POLL STARTED - MPS1431 MOCK POLL CONDUCTED - MPC1311 MOCK POLL CONDUCTED IN ABSENCE OF POLLING AGENT - MPCA 236 POLL STARTED - PSD1456 EVM FAULTY - EVM 17

19. POLL PERCENTAGE 9 AM1254 POLL PERCENTAGE 11AM1591 POLL PERCENTAGE 1PM1572 POLL PERCENTAGE 3PM1467 POLL PERCENTAGE 5PM 664 POLLING STATION WHERE POLL CLOSED AT SCHEDULE TIME - PCST 778 POLLING STATION WHERE VOTERS IN QUEUE AT THE TIME - PVQT 40

20. POLLING PARTY REACHED AT RECEIVING CENTRE - PRRC 326 BOOTH CAPTURE - BCP (wrongly sent) 5 RIOT AT POLL - RAP (wrongly sent) 2 MEDICAL EMERGENCY - MEM (wrongly sent) 6 OTHER - OTR (wrongly sent) 4 TOTAL SMS ON POLLDAY12160 TOTAL SMS (PRE AND POLL DAY)16705

21. Training Session

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

23. Media Recognition

25. 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 5th April 2014 and 24th 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.. (An m-governance project by DEO Nanded) Strong Room Monitoring System

26. 1.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. 2.Traditionally strong room was monitored by the officials and representatives of contesting candidates with their physical presence. 3.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. Process Reengineering

27. 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 24X7 monitoring from CPF personnel’s 5.Configuration of the cameras to mobile apps Preparatory Work Done

28. The Ground Floor Plan of strong room

29. The First Floor Plan of strong room

30. 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. Testing

31. 1.Execution of the SRMS started in midnight of 17th 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. Execution

32. Snap Shots

34. Control Room

35. Reyes – apps for live transmission

36. 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. Outcome

37. Media Recognition

38. Other ‘E’nitiatives

39. 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.

40. Glimpse

41. 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. Other ‘E’nitiatives - contd…

42. Thank You…..