BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//HasGeek//NONSGML Funnel//EN DESCRIPTION:Call for evidence about risks and benefits of introducing bloc kchain in India's electoral systems X-WR-CALDESC:Call for evidence about risks and benefits of introducing blo ckchain in India's electoral systems NAME:Examine the role of technology in elections X-WR-CALNAME:Examine the role of technology in elections REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT12H SUMMARY:Examine the role of technology in elections TIMEZONE-ID:Asia/Kolkata X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT12H X-WR-TIMEZONE:Asia/Kolkata BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Voters Before Citizens: The Origins of India’s Electoral Democra cy DTSTART:20210508T103000Z DTEND:20210508T123000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/Hqtf84vAzTsrVBhARuA6Du@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:2 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20210430T112247Z DESCRIPTION:## Session Abstract\n\n*How did a full electoral democracy bas ed on universal adult franchise begin in India? Contrary to a common under standing\, which has tended to see it as an inheritance of the British Raj \, new archival materials reveal a different\, and hitherto unknown story. The origin of India’s edifice of elections\, through the preparation of the first electoral roll\, was an ingeniously Indian enterprise. The turn ing of all adults into voters\, even before they were citizens\, was a sta ggering democratic state-building operation of inclusion and scale\, which surpassed any previous experience in democratic world history. This work was undertaken by Indian bureaucrats from August 1947\, in the midst of th e partition\, and in anticipation of the constitution. It entailed numerou s interactions between administrators and people\, even from the margins\, who took a keen interest\, and participated in the endeavour. This proces s resulted in innovations that secured electoral democracy in India for th e decades to come.*\n\n## Session Summary\n\nThis is a summary of the key concepts and highlights from the session “Voters Before Citizens” by P rof. Ornit Shani. \n\nThe talk has been organized as part of the project e xamining the introduction of technology and particularly blockchain as par t of the electoral process in India.\n\nProf. Shani built her talk around the preparation of the first electoral rolls on the basis of adult franchi se (in readiness for the first election) and how in doing so a commitment to the principle of inclusivity enabled taking bold decisions and a way o f shared learning. A fascinating aspect of this process is how the decisio n around complete adult franchise was agreed upon and steps were taken to implement it even before the electorate became citizens of India. The prep aratory work for this started even before the enactment of the constitutio n. Shani discusssed what we could learn from that process about the steps taken to build a robust electoral system.\n\nAn electoral roll forming the basis of universal franchise\, prepared and maintained accurately\, was t he plinth upon which the institution of electoral democracy would rest. Th e history of this process would help understanding the values that underpi n democracy and the electoral system. And while often some of those fundam ental values are taken for granted\, any discussion around them is needed to frame a critique of changes being introduced in the name of more effect ive democracy.\n\nProf. Shani has extensively documented in her book\, *Ho w India Became Democratic*\, the work on the preparation of the first draf t of electoral rolls. The bureaucrats at the Secretariat of the Constituen t Assembly were engaged in this activity against the backdrop of the Parti tion and when more than 18 million refugees were present in the country. T his process of turning all adult Indians into voters is however not a lega cy of colonial rule. This\, as Prof Shani mentions\, is a singularly ingen ious and indigenous set of decisions undertaken with immense care and an e xpansive imagination. The scale of this effort included enrolling more tha n 173 million people on the first electoral rolls. By the time the Constit ution of India came into force in January 1950\, the abstract notion of un iversal franchise and the principles and practices of electoral democracy (procedural equality for the purpose of authorising government) were alrea dy in place. In effect\, Indians became voters before they were citizens.\ n\nThe concept of instituting universal adult franchise required creating very practical methods which used uniform qualification criteria by which adults will be placed on the rolls. And while for a moment the topic of us ing the Census activity to create such a roll was discussed\, it was decid ed against as it was clearly understood that these are two different proce sses and thus would not lead to the outcome desired. Electoral rolls would require creating ways to count the population that makes a break from the established colonial practices of enumeration. The notion that the entire adult population would be considered equal in terms of exercising their v oting rights also meant the creation of a framework which set up an all In dia administrative exercise including the princely states. The model adopt ed at the time in the State of Travancore provided insights into how to de sign instructions for the preparation of the rolls. This model included ho use-to-house visits and registration and thus this continues to be a model that is in place today.\n\nThe preparation of the rolls through this proc ess also shows another key aspect of participative democracy - the ability to raise grievances and concerns and seek redress or reforms. Especially in the context of the registration of partition refugees concerns were rai sed from various places in India to the Constituent Assembly Secretariat. These ranged from exclusionary practices being adopted at the ground level to the more practical problem of the residential requirements being a dis criminatory factor against refugees. The process also highlighted the gend ered issues with women often being unable to make it within deadlines to r egister themselves as the officials and state machinery often did not appr oach this favorably.\n\nAs the Secretariat began to respond swiftly and ju stly to the issues as they come up\, there also surfaced topics around mig rant labor or adults with no permanent address. As each of these issues re ceived responses and solutions - often far-reaching ones which will have c onsequences in the years to come - the engagement of the people was exhibi ted in the passion around the right to vote. Indians took active interest in the processes\, and started to relate to the listing of a name on the e lectoral roll not just as a right but as *‘a title deed to democracy’* .\n\nThe origin of the single and Central Election Commission has an inter esting story. The draft Constitution of February 1948 provided for one ele ction commission for the elections to the central legislature and for sepa rate election commissions for each of the states of the union. However\, w hen Dr Ambedkar presented the article to the House on 15 June 1949 he ment ioned that fundamental changes have been brought about wherein the electio n machinery for all elections to Parliament and the legislatures for every State would be vested in a single Central Election Commission. This chang e was informed by the experience of attempts at disenfranchisement by loca l officials on the ground during the preparations of the rolls. \n\nThe em ergence of the electoral rolls have been made possible through the values and trust elicited by the Secretariat - in the willingness to extensively engage\, seek guidance and by ensuring that attempts to disenfranchise gro ups were resisted and countered. By the end of this process procedural equ ality for the purpose of voting was bureaucratised. The building of trust among the electorate and the administrators was a precondition for the suc cess of electoral democracy\, driven by equality\, inclusivity\, transpara ncy and accountability. \n LAST-MODIFIED:20230810T072606Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/voters-before-citize ns-the-origins-of-indias-electoral-democracy-Hqtf84vAzTsrVBhARuA6Du BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Voters Before Citizens: The Origins of India’s Electoral Dem ocracy in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On the nuances of electronic voting DTSTART:20210515T103000Z DTEND:20210515T123000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/2USjJekRY7EE8gX2FrzLcV@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:1 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20210509T081607Z DESCRIPTION:We will discuss various considerations for electronic voting a nd digital electoral rolls and their compliance with democracy principles. We will broadly cover some aspects of the recent reports of the Ctizens' Commission on Elections (https://www.reclaimtherepublic.co/report) - mainl y Volume I\, but also some aspects from Volume II related to electoral rol ls - and the references therein. In particular\, we will discuss issues re lated to election technology and public trust\, and analyse the recommenda tions of the German Constitutional Court and the recent report of the Nati onal Academies of the Sciences\, Engineering and Medicine of the USA on th e usage of election technology. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/on-nuances-of-electr onic-voting-2USjJekRY7EE8gX2FrzLcV BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:On the nuances of electronic voting in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Publicly verifiable voting: a design sketch illustration DTSTART:20210522T103000Z DTEND:20210522T123000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/KnynAjyV6crHA3UE17riNv@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:1 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20210513T173142Z DESCRIPTION:We will study the design sketch of a publicly verifiable and s trongly software independent voting system as an illustrative example to b etter understand the issues involved in deploying such systems in large pu blic elections (beyond academic computer science). We will discuss the pro s and cons. \n\nWe will also discuss the possibilities for public verifiab le electronic electoral roles and discuss the benefits and risks. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/publicly-verifiable- voting-a-design-sketch-illustration-KnynAjyV6crHA3UE17riNv BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Publicly verifiable voting: a design sketch illustration in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Field notes from elections DTSTART:20210529T103000Z DTEND:20210529T123000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/HAbhqssRsTg8B4X8kRZVaH@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:1 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20210522T123910Z DESCRIPTION:What are the roles and processes in an Election? How is securi ty maintained? What are the current set of issues which need to be conside red to maintain the integrity of the electoral democracy? In the session w e'll discuss about these and other topics which have been the strength of the electoral process and how to examine any change in context of the citi zen's view of the elections.\n\nA summary of the session\, prepared by Vir a\, is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MHAN44w1LjEKCOXfAidGa Qq0sA6unjCu/view?usp=sharing LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/field-notes-from-ele ctions-HAbhqssRsTg8B4X8kRZVaH BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Field notes from elections in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Digital democracy and public trust DTSTART:20210619T103000Z DTEND:20210619T123000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/5RHRg8UwJBsQRj18RQxg5M@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:1 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20210608T133641Z DESCRIPTION:The faith and trust in public institutions is vital to the con tinuation of democracy. When choices around digital intervention are not a ccompanied by a publc consultation the resulting impact is far wider than is usually observed. Technology does not and cannot replace public trust. And when technology is indeed required - it has to be purpose specific\, e xplainable and not undermine the confidence in the institutions. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/digital-democracy-an d-public-trust-5RHRg8UwJBsQRj18RQxg5M BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Digital democracy and public trust in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Prints in the sand of time: the construction of uniqueness before biometric authentication DTSTART:20210731T103000Z DTEND:20210731T123000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/CssbsP42Vk56WitijTWGwg@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:1 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20210529T131657Z DESCRIPTION:What is the story of constructing uniqueness in India prior to the arrival of biometric authentication\, with all its hybrid predicates such as digital fingerprinting\, iris\, voice and facial recognition? Can this history be narrated merely by tracing sporadic moments spurred by new research and administrative interest in fingerprinting and anthropometry? Alongside these advances\, it is critical that we also examine how ‘uni queness’ entered the realm of documentation\, leaving its prints in the sand of time. Where India lacked an elaborate centralized system of finger print registration along the lines of apartheid South Africa\, fingerprint ing made its way in an enduring sense\, into the world of pensions and jai l warrants. Simultaneously\, it is critical to note that the birth of post colonial modernity was tied up with the mandate to verify families at the dawn of Partition – in this sense\, uniqueness was manifest in cross-ind exing families and ration cards through practices such as serial numbers\, counterfoils and indents. We will see how technologies did not necessaril y emerge consecutively but concomitantly as witnessed in the intersecting post-Partition uses of photography and serial numbers. The talk will concl ude by looking at the early trends of biometric identification in the 90s across disparate realms of food distribution\, election\, and immigration\ , with a couple of conjectures on what prompted the post-2000 turn to clou d and number-based authentication. \n\n**Bio:** Tarangini Sriraman's rese arch over the last six years has been invested in the histories of identif ication documents in the disparate colonial and postcolonial spaces of Ind ia. She has looked at debates over the material forms\, the legal and cult ural aspects of identification documents at various moments like epidemic control in late 19th century India\, rationing during the Second World War \, compensation for Partition-displaced persons\, the resettlement of slum residents post 1990 and the implications of Aadhaar for urban poor subjec ts. OUP Delhi recently published her book titled In Pursuit of Proof: A Hi story of Identification Documents in India which uses eclectic ethnographi c approaches to trace genealogies of identification documents within domai ns of urban welfare production in contemporary India and Delhi in particul ar. She is currently working on a new research project on the gendered his tories of alcohol regimes in two states of South India\, Tamil Nadu and An dhra Pradesh. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/prints-in-the-sand-o f-time-the-construction-of-uniqueness-before-biometric-authentication-Cssb sP42Vk56WitijTWGwg BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Prints in the sand of time: the construction of uniqueness bef ore biometric authentication in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:What really happened in the mock election conducted by the Telanga na State Election Commission (TSEC) DTSTART:20211030T103000Z DTEND:20211030T120500Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/CZMgwpuxSWwqAEXy6G8h54@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:2 CATEGORIES:Master class CREATED:20211021T055905Z DESCRIPTION:Following up on our [first remarks](https://hasgeek.com/onevot e/electiontech/updates/first-remarks-on-the-announcement-from-telengana-g- TyPSpPiAAsnihQPqw4EWpZ) on the e-voting announcement from the Telengana St ate Election Commission we present a discussion around the mock election w hich was recently conducted.\n\nSrinivas Kodali and Srikanth have been tra cking the preparation for this mock election and they will be discussing t he facts they observed and some remarks upon the future of this technology intervention.\n\nIf you have been following our work or are interested in how the intervention of technology\, rights\, elections and identity this is a session you'd like to attend.\n\n## Links\n* [TSEC eVoting Archive]( https://gitlab.com/techdemocracyresearch/Elections/TSEC_eVote) LAST-MODIFIED:20230810T072606Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com URL:https://hasgeek.com/onevote/electiontech/schedule/what-really-happened -discussing-the-mock-election-conducted-by-tsec-CZMgwpuxSWwqAEXy6G8h54 BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:What really happened in the mock election conducted by the Tel angana State Election Commission (TSEC) in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Technology for Democratic Reform: A Case Study of the MyNeta App DTSTART:20220324T103000Z DTEND:20220324T113000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/VtKiMQvCV4EDiW3zPdesfa@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:4 CREATED:20220321T062158Z DESCRIPTION:It is often taken for granted that the Indian elections elevat e those with criminal records into legislators. How does this come about? Do voters get presented with adequate\, complete and accurate information in order to evaluate the choices? What leadership qualities are observed w hen candidates hit the campaign trail? To have good laws one needs good le gislators and for that to happen there is a need to examine the candidates put up by political parties. To view their criminal\, financial and educa tional information as is available from the affidavits\; to know about the income and expenditure of the various political parties and as much as po ssible\, have some insight into the donations. The Myneta.info open data r epository is a pioneering work which is designed to empower voters and als o present information in a manner that is easily understood. How did this platform come about? What sustains it? How can citizens help make this an important and integral part of political conversations?\n\nJaskirat Singh and Divya Arora will discuss this and more about the data repository\, th e technology and roadmap of this singular effort in the domain of democrat ic reforms. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Technology for Democratic Reform: A Case Study of the MyNeta A pp in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:(Un)planned Outcomes: Verifying Identity through Aadhaar Biometric s DTSTART:20220410T103000Z DTEND:20220410T113000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/RzksqaXyrykUeyjXQrwWAB@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:7 CREATED:20220406T035207Z DESCRIPTION:The 2021 Panchayat Elections in Bihar saw a rather unprecedent ed workflow - using Aadhaar based biometrics to identify and verify voters as a mandatory element. The slow crawl of technology in elections is now ubiquitous with each state election commission being generally enthusiasti c about adopting FRT\, biometrics etc. But sometimes such plans can have u nintended consequences. What actually happened during the elections in Bih ar which resulted in voters finding their bank accounts being drained off funds? What are the facts? How did this system work? And where is the law backing all of this?\n\nWe examine all these issues in context of the actu al software - an analysis of the software used during the elections and th e workflow of authentication which enables such KYC routines to be put tog ether.\n LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:(Un)planned Outcomes: Verifying Identity through Aadhaar Biome trics in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A Discussion with Khabar Lahariya DTSTART:20220419T140000Z DTEND:20220419T150000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/4qWuVVgm2CShRAxEVTaj4z@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:7 CREATED:20220406T120219Z DESCRIPTION:A discussion on Twitter Spaces with Meera Devi\, Managing Edit or at Khabar Lahariya and Kumkum Yadav\, Senior Reporter at Khabar Lahariy a about their experiences covering Assembly Elections. The discussion will be moderated by Maansi Verma\, Lawyer\, Trustee at Article 21 Trust\n\nht tps://twitter.com/i/spaces/1LyxBoEWVoYKN LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:A Discussion with Khabar Lahariya in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Model Code of Conduct DTSTART:20220507T103000Z DTEND:20220507T113000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/AiXsqonAjpjrnFkJm1p7t3@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:2 CREATED:20220506T102652Z DESCRIPTION:Electioneering entails delivering campaign messages to the max imum number of voters efficiently and economically. In a country with a po pulation greater than 130 crores\, it is a herculean task for political pa rties and leaders to reach voters with their message. In the light of this magnitude\, political players opt for new age media solutions to reach ou t to their constituents. With an internet user base of more than 45 crores \, digital campaigns have become the first choice. Having said that\, camp aigning in the digital spaces has started throwing challenges to the democ racies across the world\, including India. In light of the new age electio neering\, this talk will discuss the role of the Model Code of Conduct in India\, and the gaps that exist in regulating digital spaces. The talk wil l be will be moderated by Maansi Verma of Article 21 Trust. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:The Model Code of Conduct in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Accessible Electoral Process for persons with disabilities DTSTART:20220521T103000Z DTEND:20220521T113000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/LUVXQCBsXjS2H8MsgMCWbi@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:3 CREATED:20220503T102119Z DESCRIPTION:Accessible Elections is one of the thrust areas of Election Co mmission of India\, whose motto is no voter to be left behind. While worki ng on accessible elections\, there is an array of facilitations introduced by the ECI keeping in mind\, the specific needs of persons with disabilit ies which are also diverse in nature\, by such means that the right to dig nity and equal opportunities of persons with disabilities in the electoral process is assured.\nWhereas\, ECI is also conscious of engaging the prim ary stakeholders i.e. citizens with disbailities in multi level consultati ons\, four tier accessible elections committees\, CSO partnerships at stat e/ district levels and as election icons. LAST-MODIFIED:20230108T103046Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Accessible Electoral Process for persons with disabilities in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Disability Rights and Accessibility in Elections DTSTART:20220526T103000Z DTEND:20220526T113000Z DTSTAMP:20260421T053239Z UID:session/3vkdT7hWA59YVpY2T4rPH3@hasgeek.com SEQUENCE:5 CREATED:20220429T173156Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220524T150659Z LOCATION:Online ORGANIZER;CN="One Vote":MAILTO:no-reply@hasgeek.com BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Disability Rights and Accessibility in Elections in 5 minutes TRIGGER:-PT5M END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR