MP Polls: Indore sets up AI-equipped ‘smart’ polling station

Indore: The high-octane five-state Assembly Election entered its second leg as Madhya Pradesh went to the polls for 230 seats and Chhattisgarh held the last round of its two-phase elections for 70 seats on Friday (November 17). With the BJP aiming to retain the turf for another term, the Congress is vying for power from the saffron party.

As the polling began Friday morning, the voters in Madhya Pradesh experienced "smart" polling. With artificial intelligence entering every arena, electoral stations have been set up in Indore where people can vote without having to stand in queues and can take 'inked finger' selfies with the help of an AI-equipped camera.

The polling station has been set up at Maa Kankeshwari Devi Government College in Nanda Nagar in Assembly constituency number 2, an official said.

"To keep the smart polling station queue-less, we have introduced an online token system. People arriving for voting will be given token numbers, and they can sit comfortably in the polling station till their turn comes," Rupal Chopra, assistant planner of the state-run Indore Smart City Development Limited, told the news agency.

"A digital selfie point has also been developed at the polling station, where an AI-equipped camera has been installed. After voting, if a person stands at this place and shows the camera his or her finger that has the indelible ink, a selfie will be clicked immediately," she informed.

A bar code will appear on the screen at the selfie point, and scanning it will ensure the photograph is transmitted to the voter's mobile phone, which can then be shared on social media, the official explained.

A total of 15.55 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes in five Assembly constituencies in Indore (urban) on Friday. Assembly poll results will be declared on December 3.

With Shivraj Singh Chouhan being one of the longest-serving Chief Ministers in the state, the electoral narrative has been dominated by both the Congress and the BJP, as high-octane campaigns pulled off by both parties were the focal point in the run-off to the polls.

Madhya Pradesh has largely been in the control of the BJP for over 20 years, except for a two-year brief rule by the Congress after the 2018 polls.

(with agency inputs)