CEC Counts 3600 yrs Manhours to Trash Footage Demands
CEC Rajeev Kumar Image credit @ECISVEEP
Sharing Footage of Polling Booth May Become Tool for Machine Learning: EC
By Kumar Vikram
New Delhi, January 7: The Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Tuesday rejected demands of the Opposition parties for sharing the footage of polling booths. Kumar said that one person may end up spending 3600 years to watch footages of all the polling booths in the country.
“We have evidences of misuse of footages. We will not share the footage with election candidates. The footage will be used for machine learning and invasion of privacy of voters,” said Kumar, while addressing a press conference in the national capital.
The EC on Tuesday announced the poll date for the Delhi Assembly elections. The single-phase election will be held on February 8, and counting of votes will take place on February 8.
“Footages, if shared, will lead to the mapping of the voters’ profiles, which will be liable for misuse. We will not allow the invasion of privacy of the voters,” said Kumar at the press conference.
The CEC rejected the claims that the change in the rules to deny the CCTV footages of the polling booths, both inside and outside, will not harm transparency. He said that the political parties can gain access to private information of the voters, including the manners in which they voted in the elections.
A combative Kumar asked, who will anyone want such bulky data (of the CCTV footage). He said all other norms remain the same for holding the elections.
The CEC said that there are 10.5 lakh polling booths in the country. “There are roughly 1600-1700 polling booths in each parliamentary constituency. The 10-hout long footage will result into a humongous data. If one person starts watching them, it will take 3600 years,” said Kumar.
Kumar strongly defended the amendment to election rules restricting CCTV footage of polling booths from public inspection. He also asserted that the change in the rules will stop fake narrative from being peddled by vested interests.
The centre amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. The change was meant to restrict the type of papers or documents being made available to public inspection. The Rule 93 earlier stated that all papers related to elections be open to public inspection. Now, the rule has added a caveat – as specified in these rules.
The law ministry and EC officials separately explained that a court case was the “trigger” behind the amendment.
The CCTV camera footage, webcasting footage and video recording of candidates during the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) period are not covered under the election rules. Other documents will continue to be made available to the public.
The change in the rule was brought after the ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In the Mahmoud Pracha vs EC case, the court ruled release of all documents under Rule 93 (2). The case pertained to the Haryana Assembly elections. The ruling directed release of the CCTV footage also.
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