Bihar Becomes First State to Use Mobile Phones for Voting says Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad

Ahead of the Assembly election in Bihar, voting for the municipal elections was conducted through mobile phones for the first time in the state on Saturday (June 28, 2025), across six councils in Patna, Rohtas, and East Champaran districts. Polling began at 7 a.m.

While voting is being done through EVMs at all the booths, voters, on the other hand, are also casting their votes, by sitting at home, through mobile app. Voting is being done at a total of 489 booths. These voters will decide the fate of 538 candidates.

Bihar State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad earlier on Friday (June 27, 2025) had shared the information to media with this regard that for the first time, voters in the municipal elections would be able to cast vote through mobile, reported Hindustan Times.

The voters are required to install the app in their android phones to avail this facility. Senior citizens, disabled people and pregnant women can avail this option.

“To avail his facility, the voters have to install the E-SECBHR app and then they have to link the mobile number already added in the voters list. The app has been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC),” Mr. Prasad said.

He, however, did not clarify whether this facility would be available during the upcoming Assembly elections scheduled for October-November 2025.

One of the major concerns surrounding e-voting is the possibility of tampering. However, State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad assured that efforts have been made to ensure transparency, and the voting process would remain smooth and fair.

As a security measure, only two registered voters are allowed to log in using a single mobile number, and each voter is verified through their voter ID number. Voters who do not have mobile phones can still cast their vote by accessing the Bihar Election Commission's website and using the e-voting option.

Additional security features such as blockchain technology, facial recognition, and scanning have been implemented to prevent any tampering.

As of Friday evening, around 10,000 voters had registered for mobile voting, and approximately 50,000 voters were expected to cast their votes through the website.