There is no proposal to introduce electronic voting in the upcoming general elections, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.
In a written reply to an unstarred question by BJP member Dushyant Singh, who had asked the Law Minister of he was aware of an e-voting experiment using a smart phone-based app by the Telangana State Election Commission and if such a technology could be used for general election, Mr. Rijiju replied in the negative.
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“No such proposal has been received from the Election Commission of India,” he said, adding that the government has not invested in any research and development activity on such technology.
To another query on whether the government has taken note of Block Chain technology being used to conduct elections in foreign countries, Mr. Rijiju replied in the negative.
Replying to another question during the Question Hour, the Law Minister admitted that COVID-19 had affected justice delivery mechanism and many young advocates are having to face a lot of hardship because of non-availability of physical hearings in many places.
He said the government has been consulting the Chief Justice of India to offer alternate solutions like virtual hearings or hearings in hybrid mode that combines virtual and physical hearings.
Talking about alternative dispute resolution (ADR), he pointed out that 90% cases are pending in the lower judiciary.
“We are taking every step with the concept of Justice at the Door-Step, especially mobile courts or Lok Adalat, and hearing cases on the spot. I assure that the hearing in rural areas is conducted in a way that the people do not have to really struggle to get the basic minimum justice,” he said.
Mr. Rijiju also informed the House about a NITI Ayog initiative to formulate a framework for online dispute resolution (ODR) in the country even though it is at a nascent stage.
