DC Edit | Don’t give up consensus path to poll transparency
It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting, goes a gem of verity. Adding grist to the mill is the government’s recent move to amend Rule 93 of the Conduct of Elections Rules of 1961 to restrict public access to electronic documents like CCTV footage, webcasting data and video recordings of candidates during polls. It is a patently weak excuse that the misuse of CCTV camera footage from inside polling booths could compromise voter secrecy and that such footage could be used to create fake narratives through AI technology, which is what the EC said in defence of the changes in the rules governing the conduct of polls. The government and EC’s defensive move in amending the rule is clearly owed to the Punjab and Haryana high court asking it to share all documents relating to the Haryana Assembly elections, including the electronic footage, to a citizen. To make them count, any desire to kill transparency must be exterminated if the polling process for the world’s biggest electorate is to keep its fair name.
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