Congratulations, Shri Atul Rai
( CEO and Co-founder / Staqu / atul@staqu.com - atul.coffee@gmail.com - hello@staqu.com )
Context :
Officials use AI analytics to keep Bihar panchayat polls free and fair / MINT / 29 Oct
Extract :
The Bihar State Election Commission is using video analytics with optical character recognition (OCR) to analyse CCTV footage from counting booths during the on-going panchayat elections.
The aim is to ensure that every vote in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) is error-free and not manipulated during counting.
The video analytics system used for the panchayat elections has been provided by a Gurugram-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup called Staqu. The system is based on its proprietary video analytics solution called JARVIS, which uses OCR and text recognition to identify the candidates and count votes directly from the camera feed by monitoring the EVM screens.
After the EVM data is fed into the systems, it is tallied with the data acquired by performing analytics of the footage from the CCTVs to ensure there are no discrepancies.
The data generated from the video analytics solution is hosted on the State Election Commission’s servers where the data going to its website and data generated by Staqu’s solution are matched.
If any difference in the number of votes is detected, the commission is alerted immediately.
This is the first time that video analytics is being used during vote counting in any election in India.
The State Election Commission has also deployed a fingerprint recognition system to verify the identity of the voters.
“.. we felt it best to automate the vote-counting verification process," said Deepak Prasad, Bihar state election commissioner. ( ceo_bihar@eci.gov.in )
“We are happy to associate with Staqu’s artificial intelligence-driven JARVIS technology, which can assist in the process and ensure that it is error-free and the elections proceed in a fair manner," he added.
Unlike state and national-level elections, most panchayat elections don’t use VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) for verification of votes.
“We have requested district magistrates to ensure that a camera connected to JARVIS is placed on the same table where the EVM is kept and is facing and detecting the EVM machine. Then, we ensure that it is detecting the text in the machine and the OCR is identifying the characters and their meaning," said Atul Rai, chief executive officer and co-founder at Staqu.
The whole idea was to address any scope for discrepancy during the counting without having to interfere with the EVM, he added.
Rai claims the accuracy of their OCR is 99.7%.
MY TAKE :
This reminded me of a very similar system suggested by me some 2 years ago, in my following e-mail to the Central Election Commissioner :
Ø 100 % verification of VVPAT ? No problem ! ……………………[ 02 Apr 2019 ]
Extract :
I urge EC to consider following suggestion for the next election ( even the very next State Election ) :
Just above the EVM , mount a CCTV camera , which is connected with the EVM and gets actuated as soon as the voter presses any button on the EVM
Using “ Close Up / Zoom In “ , the camera will capture a very sharp and focussed image of the paper slip which is below the glass panel and displays following details :
# Candidate Serial Number
# Candidate Name
# Candidate’s photo
Using Image Processing Software ,
This IMAGE will get converted into TEXT,
- and
Get added to “ Verification Database of EVM # ABC “
[ - with the latest Facial Recognition technology available commercially, this will pose no problem ]
Each IMAGE – and its corresponding TEXT will carry a “ System Time Stamp “
When voting at a booth gets over at the end of the day , this entire database is tallied with the number of votes registered
That 100 % verification , would take a few seconds !
That “ 100 % Electronic Audit Tally [ EAT ], will be immediately shown to the representatives of all the Political parties who are authorized by the EC to remain present inside the booth
And they will be required to sign a EAT declaration , confirming the results shown to them
No more arguments / disputes !
==============================
With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 29 Oct 2021
CC :
Mr Sushil Chandra ( Chief Election Commissioner / schandra@eci.gov.in )
Mr Rajv Kumar ( Election Commissioner / ecrk@eci.gov.in )
Mr Anup Chandra Pandey ( Election Commissioner / ecacp@eci.gov.in )
Mr Umesh Sinha ( Secretary General / decus@eci.gov.in )
Mr. Sudeep Jain ( Deputy Election Commissioner / decsj@eci.gov.in )
Mr. Chandra Bhushan Kumar ( Deputy Election Commissioner / deccbk@eci.gov.in )
Mr. Dharmendra Sharma ( Deputy Election Commissioner / dg.iiidem@eci.gov.in )
Mr. Nitesh Kumar Vyas ( Deputy Election Commissioner / decnv@eci.gov.in )
Mr. T. Sreekanth ( Deputy Election Commissioner / dects@eci.gov.in )
Dr Shashank Goelji, (Chief Electoral Officer / ceo-telangana@eci.gov.in )
Mr. Jayesh Ranjan ( principal secretary, (ITE&C department / Telengana / secy_itc@telangana.gov.in / jayesh_ranjan@hotmail.com )
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