Patna: The state of Bihar used a mobile-based e-voting system that was first created in India, which enabled thousands of voters to vote both at home and abroad during municipal elections on June 28, 2025, and this move into digitization will revolutionize Indian democracy.
The historic program, which was carried out in 42 municipalities in 26 districts, offered the e-SECBHR and C-DAC apps to 51,157 registered voters so that they could take part in the municipal by-election. Polling started at 7 AM and ended at 5 PM, and 538 candidates were polled in 489 booths. Bibha Kumari of Pakridayal, East Champaran, was the first e-voter of India, and Munna Kumar was the first male e-voter. The overall turnout on the State Election Commission, which was 62.41 percent, showed 70.20 percent of eligible e-voters utilized the mobile system as vehicles, 54.63 percent at polling places.
The e-voting system, which is easily accessible, will cover senior citizens, differently-abled people, pregnant women, migrant workers, and critically ill voters. Voters were made to download the only Android-based e-SECBHR app and were connected with their registered mobile number and were allowed to identify themselves through voter ID and through facial recognition. Blockchain technology makes votes encrypted and unhackable and can only be decrypted during voting. The system capabilities, such as Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), optical character recognition (OCR) that counts the votes, and the digital lock on the strongroom of EVMs, further improve the security.
Deepak Prasad, the State Election Commissioner, welcomed the record Bihar has created in history. Through this system, the people who cannot access polling stations are empowered, and they are guaranteed participatory inclusion.” The X post of the commission praised the vote of Bibha Kumari as the mark of convenience, security, and empowered participation. The voters in Dubai and Qatar also engaged in demonstrating the scope of the system. Nonetheless, questions regarding digital access remain there, as some X users raise concerns about the security of the app and the incorporation of voters in rural areas.
E-voting was pioneered in Estonia in 2005 before some countries followed it, such as Belgium, Switzerland, and Australia, with some dropping it due to security issues. The pilot in 6 municipalities of Bihar is intended to improve the procedure to be applied more widely, and it is not yet determined whether it will be used in the Assembly elections occurring in October-November 2025 (not the elections in the entire Bihar state).
The innovation poses some doubts about scalability, digital literacy, and cybersecurity, considering that India is figuring out the future of e-voting. Other opportunities to display the success of the system will be the counting of votes that is scheduled on June 30.