Voters to get 7 info from EC’s new mobile app

• EC launched Smart Election Management BD app for voters
• Seven types of information will be provided on poll day
• NID and Date of birth will be needed to log in
• Full online nomination submission launched
• Security deposits will also feature during submission
• Cost approximately Tk21 crore
• Two system built by external vendor with the help of IIFC of ERD

The year-long effort of the Election Commission to gain the trust of the voters during the general elections has come to an end with the inauguration of "Smart Election Management BD (SEM BD)".

Chief Election Commissioner of the EC Kazi Habibul Awal inaugurated the apps and launched the updated version of Online Nomination Submission System (ONSS) on Sunday.

According to the system officials of the EC, a voter will get seven types of information from Smart Election Management BD including voter number of the individual, serial number in the voter list, location of the centre, picture of the centre, constituency of his centre, details of every candidate and results.

The app was built and upgraded with the assistance from Infrastructure Investment Facilitation Company (IIFC), an advisory body of the Government of Bangladesh under the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Ministry of Finance.

Sources said the whole process caused a cost of Tk21 crore. The Apps will be open for all after the election schedule is announced, said Election Commissioner Brig Gen (Retd) Ahsan Habib Khan in the inaugural program.

He said that the feature of the apps to get vote casting updates every two hours would help gain publicity during the election day.

"Voters learned from others about the vote casting update and when they saw the vote casting suddenly jumped from 20% to 80%, they started suspecting the casting process. This two-hourly vote cast percentage updating system is believed to help them gain voters' trust on the day," EC Md Alamgir explained.

System officers confirmed that the apps will only confirm how percentage of votes have been cast on the election day in every two hours.

System Analyst, also a member of technical committee for the apps, Mizanur Rahman Khan said that the voters need to access the apps providing their NID and date of birth and will get the information he desired. The SEM BD apps will also connect the voters to the election commission servers and voters will see all the data provided publicly on the EC website.

It is very suitable for urban areas and it will save their time and efforts as well. They will be able to get access to the notice provided regarding election polls as well, he added.

EC prepared to go fully online nomination submission process

The CEC also launched the fully online version of the submission process named Online Nomination Submission System (ONSS) where a candidate will submit his form anywhere from the world.

Previously, the candidates needed to download a candidacy form from the portal and had to complete and submit it manually. Now if they want, they can submit the form manually. But the EC did not make it compulsory for the upcoming election.

EC MD Alamgir said that the previous commission included the online process to the legal process but failed to incorporate it. Now the current EC has done it. The candidate can also pay their security deposits through the website provided financial gateway.

Sources said the pilot version of the updated version was in trial during last Dhaka 17 by-poll where 14 out of 15 candidates submitted their candidacy forms online and eight of them deposited the money online.

“What’s they need to do is be present before the returning officer during scrutinizing their documents,” the sources from the system unit said.

EC Ahsan Habib said that a voter will also get a graphical description of the results of the previous elections and a comparison with the current one through the option called 'Result Analysis'.

CEC Habibul Awal said that it will help avoid misconduct during nomination submission and also probable conflicts and also ensure transparency in the submission process.

During the program other two election commissioners--Anisur Rahman and Rasheda Sultana--were also present.