Election Commission of India
Objective :
 Computerized tracking of the election process with the critically
important objective of being able to take timely action in real time.
 It is an ‘Event based management system’ – from the time of dispatch
till the time of deposition of election material after return of parties.
 Polling parties are distributed in remote locations, so the challenge is
to get the information timely
 Events can be of predetermined nature ( e.g. Polling party dispatched,
arrived etc.) or of non-predetermined nature (e.g. Incidents of
violence). Both types of events need to trigger action on getting
recorded into the system.
Why SMS ?
 SMS is a very easy and convenient technology that can be
used for a wide range of applications. Although it has the
widest reach of all the mobile technologies today.
 Incorporates Time delay option, i.e. the recipients phone
being busy does not matter to the sender of SMSs.
 Automatic


Automatic sending of SMSs to the persons who are not reporting
within scheduled / expected time limits.
Automatic sending of SMSs to police stations, magistrates etc. on
receipt of reports of events like violence etc. from polling booths,
sector officers etc.
Information from the polling stations
Pre pollSafe arrival of polling party at polling
station.
 Mock poll conducted.

Information from the polling stations
During pollPoll started.
 9 am Report (Male,Female,Others)count.
 11 am Report (Male,Female,Others)count.
 1 pm Report (Male,Female,Others)count.
 3 pm Report (Male,Female,Others)count.
 5 pm Report (Male,Female,Others)count.
 Voters in queue at the closure of poll.
Exception reports Poll Interrupted due to EVM Non-Functioning.
 Poll interruption due to Law & Order problem.
 Poll interruption due to other Problem.
 Problem resolved

Information from the polling stations
After pollFinal voter turnout.
 Safe arrival of polling party at Record
Room.

SMS Gateway Services from NIC makes it easy to stay connected with all mobile service
operators. We have a wide range of mobile communication solutions including Web
SMS and SMS API Interfaces. The SMS Gateway should be reliable, fast, cost effective
and covers almost all operators in the India.
Process of SMS based monitoring system
 Step 1:- Mobile Registration.




RO (Returning officer)
ARO (Assistant Returning officer)
SO (Sector officer)
PO (Presiding officer)
 Step 2:- Send Events & Time based reports.
 Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
 Reports by RO/ARO/SO
(if PO does not carry mobile phone with them or
Mobile Phone of PO, for some reasons beyond
control, fails to send SMS)
Roles
 Chief electoral officer
 Can monitor the whole SMS poll monitoring system online.
 Can edit details of any polling station online if PO is getting any
problem in sending SMS.
 Returning officer
 Mobile registration through SMS or if getting any problem with
sending SMS, CEO can do it online on behalf of RO.
 Will get an SMS if there exist any problem in any polling station.
 Assistant returning officer
 Mobile registration through SMS or if getting any problem with
sending SMS, CEO can do it online on behalf of RO.
 Will get an SMS if there exist any problem in any polling station.
Roles
 Sector officer


Mobile registration through SMS or if getting any
problem with SMS, CEO can do it online on behalf
of RO.
Can send SMS on behalf of any polling station if PO
is getting any problem in sending SMS.
 Presiding officer


Mobile registration through SMS or if getting any
problem with SMS, CEO can do it online on behalf
of RO.
Send Event and Information bases reports through
SMS.
SMS format SMS is designed in such a format that the message
received by the system(SMS gateway) through the
sender(RO/ARO/SO/PO) could be automatically
interpreted and updated into the database .
 Keyword –’poll’
- All SMS format will start with this
keyword.
Example:- poll <space> other part of the message.
Message to be sent on
9212357123 – This is the virtual destination
number that we have purchased
from NIC to receive messages
from all over India.
SMS format- Mobile registration
For RO
Date of Registration- P-7 day
SMS syntaxpoll<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no<space>RO
e.g. poll S06 01 001 RO
For ARO
Date of Registration- P-7 day
SMS syntaxpoll<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no<space>ARO
e.g. poll S06 01 001 ARO
SMS format- Mobile registration
For SO
Date of Registration- P-7 day
SMS syntaxpoll<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no<space>
SECTOR_NO <space> SO
e.g. poll S06 01 001 001 SO
For PO
Date of Registration- P-7 day
SMS syntax
poll<space>State_code<space>Dist_no<space>Ac_no
<space>PS_NO <space>PO
e.g. poll S06 01 001 001 PO
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
•SMS syntax
•Remarks
Safe Arrival of Polling Party at Polling Station
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Mock Poll and attendance of polling agents
•SMS syntax
•Remarks
poll<space> MP<space>04
P-2/P-1 Day
Immediately after reaching Polling Station
poll<space> SAP
SAP- Polling Party Safely Arrived at the Polling station
P-Day
Immediately after conduct of mock poll and before
commencement of poll
MP-Mock Poll Conducted, Last 2 digits stand for no. of
Polling agents present. As per the example polling agents
of 4 contesting candidates are present.
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Poll Started
•SMS syntax
•Remarks
poll<space>PS
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Report on 2 hourly (9AM)
P day
Latest by 7:15 am
PS- Poll Started
P-Day
9am
•SMS syntax
poll<space>9AM<space>male,female,other
•Eg
poll<space>9AM<space>111,98,02
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
•SMS syntax
•e.g.
•Remarks
P day
11am
poll<space>11AM<space>male,female,other
poll<space> 11AM<space>111,98,02
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
•SMS syntax
Report on 2 hourly (11AM)
Report on 2 hourly (1PM)
P-Day
1 pm
poll<space> 1PM<space>male,female,other
poll<space> 1PM<space>111,98,02
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
•SMS syntax
e.g.
•e.g.
P day
3pm
poll<space> 3PM<space>male,female,other
poll<space> 3PM<space>111,98,02
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
•SMS syntax
Report on 2 hourly (3PM)
Report on 2 hourly(5PM)
P-Day
5 pm
poll<space> 1PM<space>male,female,other
poll<space> 1PM<space>111,98,02
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Voters in queue at the closure of poll
•SMS syntax
Remarks
poll<space> Q<space>10
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Final Voter Turnout
P day
Closure of poll
Q – Stands for Voters in queue at the schedule time for end of
poll. 3 digits stand(s) for total number of voters in queue
•SMS syntax
e.g.
P-Day
After end of Poll
poll<space> VT<space>male,female,other
poll<space> VT<space>454,381,002
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Safe arrival of Polling Party at RC after end of Poll
P day
Immediately after reaching RC
•SMS syntax
•Remarks
poll<space> SARC
•Event
.
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Poll Interrupted due to EVM Non-Functioning or
apprehension of such problem
P-Day
Immediately after such type of situation
•SMS syntax
Remarks
.
poll<space> PROB<space>EVM
SARC – Stands for Safe arrival of Polling party at RC
PROB- Problem, EVM- Problem of Electronic Voting
Machine.
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
.
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Poll interrupted or apprehension of poll interruption
due to Law & Order problem
P day
Immediately after such type of situation arises
•SMS syntax
•Remarks
poll<space> PROB<space>LW
•Event
.
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
Poll Interrupted or there is a chance of poll interruption
due to other Problem
P-Day
Immediately after such type of situation arises
•SMS syntax
•Remarks
poll<space> PROB<space>OTH
PROB- Problem, LW - Law & Order Problem.
PROB- Problem, OTH – Other Problem
Reports by Presiding Officer/Polling Officer
•Event
•Date of Registration
•Time of Registration
.
Problem resolved
•SMS syntax
Remarks
poll<space>PRES
.
P day
Immediately after problem is solved and poll is resumed
in case
PRES means Problem resolved and poll resumed in case there is
interruption.
If PO failed to send SMS?
Then
Returning Officer/Assistant Returning
Officer/Sector Officer can send SMS on behalf
of that PO
Poll Report by Returning Officer/Assistant Returning
Officer/Sector Officer
Sl.
No.
Event
1
Safe Arrival of Polling
poll<space>PS_NO<space>SAP
Party at Polling
e.g. poll<space>001<space> SAP
Station
Mock Poll and
poll <space>PS_NO<space>MP<space>04
attendance of polling e.g. poll<space>001<space> MP<space>04
agents
Poll Started
poll<space>PS_NO<space>PS
2
3
SMS syntax
e.g. poll<space>001<space> PS
4
Report on 2 hourly
(9AM)
poll<space>PS_NO<space>9AM<space>male,female,other
e.g. poll<space>001<space>9AM<space>111,98,02
5
Report on 2 hourly
(11AM)
poll<space>PS_NO<space>11AM<space>male,female,other
e.g. poll<space>001<space>11AM<space>111,98,02
Poll Report by Returning Officer/Assistant Returning
Officer/Sector Officer
Sl.
No.
Event
SMS syntax
6
Report on 2
hourly (1PM)
poll<space>PS_NO<space>1PM<space>male,female,other
e.g. poll<space>001<space>1PM<space>111,98,02
7
Report on 2
hourly (3PM)
poll<space>PS_NO<space>3PM<space>male,female,other
e.g. poll<space>001<space>3PM<space>111,98,02
8
Report on 2
hourly(5PM)
poll<space>PS_NO<space>5PM<space>male,female,other
e.g. poll<space>001<space>5PM<space>111,98,02
9
Voters in
poll<space>PS_NO<space>Q<space>voters in Queue
queue at the e.g. poll<space>001<space>Q<space>10
closure of poll
10
Final Voter
poll<space>PS_NO<space>VT<space>male,female,other
Turnout
e.g. poll<space>001<space>VT<space>454,381,002
Sl. Event
SMS syntax
No
.
11 Safe arrival of Polling Party poll<space>PS_NO<space>SARC
at RC after end of Poll.
poll<space>001<space>SARC
12 Poll Interrupted due to
EVM Non-Functioning or
apprehension of such
problem
13 Poll interrupted or
apprehension of poll
interruption due to Law &
Order problem
14 Poll Interrupted or there is
a chance of poll
interruption for any other
Problem
poll<space>PROB<space>EVM<space>PS_NO
poll<space>PROB<space>EVM<space>001
poll<space> PROB<space>LW<space>PS_NO
poll<space> PROB<space>LW<space>001
poll<space> PROB<space>OTH<space>PS_NO
poll<space> PROB<space>OTH<space>001
If SMS is not working then there will be provision
for reporting the poll information through the
website
Training to Presiding officer
 How to send SMS.
 About the keyword ’poll’.
 About the different types of SMS formats.
 When to send SMS (each SMS has to be send on certain
event or time).
 Where to send SMS (each SMS has to be send on a
particular no. given by ECI of CEO office)
 What to do if getting problem in sending SMS.
 Importance of sending SMS accurately and timely.
Thanks