SMS based Poll Monitoring System Nodal Officer : M M Tiwari, Dy CEO (IT) Election Department, Rajasthan

Objective : Computerized tracking of the election process with the critically important objective of being able to take timely action in real time. It is an ‘Event based management system’ – from the time of dispatch till the time of deposition of election material after return of parties. Polling parties are distributed in remote locations, so the challenge is to get the information timely Events can be of predetermined nature ( eg. Polling party dispatched, arrived etc.) or of non-predetermined nature (eg. Incidents of violence). Both types of events need to trigger action on getting recorded into the system.

Why sms ? SMS is a very easy and convenient technology that can be used for a wide range of applications. Although it has the widest reach of all the mobile technologies today. Incorporates Time delay option, i.e. the recipients phone being busy does not matter to the sender of SMSs. Automatic Automatic sending of SMSs to the persons who are not reporting within scheduled / expected time limits. Automatic sending of SMSs to police stations, magistrates etc. on receipt of reports of events like violence etc. from polling booths, sector officers etc.

Information from the polling stations Pre poll- Safe arrival of polling party at polling station. Mock poll conducted.

Information from the polling stations During poll- Poll started. 9 am Report (Male,Female,Others)count. 11 am Report (Male,Female,Others)count. 1 pm Report (Male,Female,Others)count. 3 pm Report (Male,Female,Others)count. 5 pm Report (Male,Female,Others)count. Voters in queue at the closure of poll. Exception reports- Poll Interrupted due to EVM Non-Functioning. Poll interruption due to Law & Order problem. Poll interruption due to other Problem. Problem resolved

Information from the polling stations After poll- Final voter turnout. Safe arrival of polling party at Record Room.

Process of SMS Gateway SMS Gateway Services from NIC makes it easy to stay connected with all mobile service operators. We have a wide range of mobile communication solutions including Web SMS and SMS API Interfaces. The SMS Gateway should be reliable, fast, cost effective and covers almost all operators in the India.

Process of SMS based monitoring system Step 1:- Mobile Registration. RO (Returning officer) ARO (Assistant Returning officer) SO (Sector officer) PO (Presiding officer) Step 2:- Send Events & Time based reports. Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Reports by RO/ARO/SO (if PO does not carry mobile phone with them or Mobile Phone of PO, for some reasons beyond control, fails to send SMS)

Roles Chief electoral officer Returning officer Can monitor the whole sms poll monitoring system online. Can edit details of any polling station online if PO is getting any problem in sending sms. Returning officer Mobile registration through SMS or if getting any problem with sending sms, CEO can do it online on behalf of RO. Will get an sms if there exist any problem in any polling station. Assistant returning officer

Roles Sector officer Mobile registration through SMS or if getting any problem with sms, CEO can do it online on behalf of RO. Can send sms on behalf of any polling station if PO is getting any problem in sending sms. Presiding officer Send Event and Information bases reports through SMS.

SMS format- SMS is designed in such a format that the message received by the system(sms gateway) through the sender(RO/ARO/SO/PO) could be automatically interpreted and updated into the database . Keyword –’pollrj’ - All sms format will start with this keyword. - Example:- pollrj <space> other part of the message.

Message to be sent on 9251092103 – This is the virtual destination number that we have purchased from NIC to receive messages from all over India.

SMS format- Mobile registration For RO Date of Registration- P-7 day SMS syntax- pollrj<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no<space>RO Eg. pollrj S06 01 001 RO For ARO SMS syntax- pollrj<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no<space>ARO Eg. pollrj S06 01 001 ARO

SMS format- Mobile registration For SO Date of Registration- P-7 day SMS syntax- pollrj<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no<space> SECTOR_NO <space> SO Eg. pollrj S06 01 001 001 SO For PO Date of Registration- P-2/P-1 day SMS syntax pollrj<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no <space>PS_NO <space>PO Eg. pollrj S06 01 001 001 PO,

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Safe Arrival of Polling Party at Polling Station Date of Registration P-2/P-1 Day Time of Registration Immediately after reaching Polling Station SMS syntax pollrj<space> SAP Remarks SAP- Polling Party Safely Arrived at the Polling station Event Mock Poll and attendance of polling agents Date of Registration P-Day Time of Registration Immediately after conduct of mock poll and before commencement of poll SMS syntax pollrj<space> MP<space>04 Remarks MP-Mock Poll Conducted, Last 2 digits stand for no. of Polling agents present. As per the example polling agents of 4 contesting candidates are present.

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Poll Started Date of Registration P day Time of Registration Latest by 8:15 am SMS syntax pollrj<space>PS Remarks PS- Poll Started Event Report on first one hourly (9AM) Date of Registration P-Day Time of Registration 9am SMS syntax pollrj<space>9AM<space>male,female,other Eg pollrj<space>9AM<space>111,98,02

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Report on 2 hourly (11AM) Date of Registration P day Time of Registration 11am SMS syntax pollrj<space>11AM<space>male,female,other Eg. pollrj<space> 11AM<space>111,98,02 Event Report on 2 hourly (1PM) Date of Registration P-Day Time of Registration 1 pm SMS syntax pollrj<space> 1PM<space>male,female,other Remarks pollrj<space> 1PM<space>111,98,02

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Report on 2 hourly (3PM) Date of Registration P day Time of Registration 3pm SMS syntax pollrj<space> 3PM<space>male,female,other Eg. pollrj<space> 3PM<space>111,98,02 Event Report on 2 hourly(5PM) Date of Registration P-Day Time of Registration 5 pm SMS syntax pollrj<space> 5PM<space>male,female,other Eg. Pollrj <space> 5PM<space>111,98,02

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Voters in queue at the closure of poll Date of Registration P day Time of Registration Closure of poll SMS syntax pollrj<space> Q<space>10 Remarks Q – Stands for Voters in queue at the schedule time for end of poll. 3 digits stand(s) for total number of voters in queue Event Final Voter Turnout Date of Registration P-Day Time of Registration After end of Poll SMS syntax pollrj<space> VT<space>male,female,other Eg. pollrj<space> VT<space>454,381,002

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Safe arrival of Polling Party at RC after end of Poll Date of Registration P day Time of Registration Immediately after reaching RC SMS syntax pollrj<space> SARC Remarks SARC – Stands for Safe arrival of Polling party at RC Event Poll Interrupted due to EVM Non-Functioning or . apprehension of such problem Date of Registration P-Day Time of Registration Immediately after such type of situation SMS syntax pollrj<space> PROB<space>EVM Remarks PROB- Problem, EVM- Problem of Electronic Voting . Machine.

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Poll interrupted or apprehension of poll interruption . due to Law & Order problem Date of Registration P day Time of Registration Immediately after such type of situation arises SMS syntax pollrj<space> PROB<space>LW Remarks PROB- Problem, LW - Law & Order Problem. Event Poll Interrupted or there is a chance of poll interruption . due to other Problem Date of Registration P-Day SMS syntax pollrj<space> PROB<space>OTH Remarks PROB- Problem, OTH – Other Problem

Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer Event Problem resolved Date of Registration P day Time of Registration Immediately after problem is solved and poll is resumed . in case SMS syntax pollrj<space>PRES Remarks PRES means Problem resolved and poll resumed in case there is . interruption.

If PO failed to send sms? Then Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer/Sector Officer can send SMS on behalf of that PO

pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>PS Poll Report by Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer/Sector Officer Sl. No. Event SMS syntax 1 Safe Arrival of Polling Party at Polling Station pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>SAP eg. pollrj<space>001<space> SAP 2 Mock Poll and attendance of polling agents pollrj <space>PS_NO<space>MP<space>04 eg. pollrj<space>001<space> MP<space>04 3 Poll Started pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>PS eg. pollrj<space>001<space> PS 4 Report on 2 hourly (9AM) pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>9AM<space>male,female,other eg. pollrj<space>001<space>9AM<space>111,98,02 5 Report on 2 hourly (11AM) pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>11AM<space>male,female,other eg. pollrj<space>001<space>11AM<space>111,98,02

pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>1PM<space>male,female,other Poll Report by Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer/Sector Officer Sl. No. Event SMS syntax 6 Report on 2 hourly (1PM) pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>1PM<space>male,female,other eg. pollrj<space>001<space>1PM<space>111,98,02 7 Report on 2 hourly (3PM) pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>3PM<space>male,female,other eg. pollrj<space>001<space>3PM<space>111,98,02 8 Report on 2 hourly(5PM) pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>5PM<space>male,female,other eg. pollrj<space>001<space>5PM<space>111,98,02 9 Voters in queue at the closure of poll pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>Q<space>voters in Queue eg. pollrj<space>001<space>Q<space>10 10 Final Voter Turnout pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>VT<space>male,female,other eg. pollrj<space>001<space>VT<space>454,381,002

pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>SARC Poll Report by Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer/Sector Officer Sl. No. Event SMS syntax 11 Safe arrival of Polling Party at RC after end of Poll. pollrj<space>PS_NO<space>SARC pollrj<space>001<space>SARC 12 Poll Interrupted due to EVM Non-Functioning or apprehension of such problem pollrj<space>PROB<space>EVM<space>PS_NO pollrj<space>PROB<space>EVM<space>001 13 Poll interrupted or apprehension of poll interruption due to Law & Order problem pollrj<space> PROB<space>LW<space>PS_NO pollrj<space> PROB<space>LW<space>001 14 Poll Interrupted or there is a chance of poll interruption for any other Problem pollrj<space> PROB<space>OTH<space>PS_NO pollrj<space> PROB<space>OTH<space>001 15 Problem as mentioned in Sl. NO. 12,13,14 resolved pollrj<space>PRES<space>PS_NO pollrj<space>PRES<space>001

SMS based Poll monitoring Website If SMS is not working then there will be provision for reporting the poll information through the website

This is login window to fill your User Name and Password given by ECI for login authentication and after that you can see various types of poll day reports. At right now. Login level: CEO

Mobile registration: Precidingofficer

Mobile registration: Returning officer

In this report section user can easily see poll day report of the polling station.

Report to see details: -- Mobile registration -- Safe arrival of polling party

This report section show the poll day reports(current) same as poll day report.

Poll interruption and problem resolved report

Exception Report: Polling stations reported through sms Polling stations not reported through sms

CEO can modify particular record of the polling station if in case SMS Gateway is not working.

voter turnout report of the particular polling station on the basis of Final Voter Information captured

Training to Presiding officer How to send SMS. About the keyword ’poll’. About the different types of SMS formats. When to send SMS (each SMS has to be send on certain event or time). Where to send SMS (each SMS has to be send on a particular no. given by ECI of CEO office) What to do if getting problem in sending SMS. Importance of sending SMS accurately and timely.

Thanks