iElection : Rs. 25000 Android app for Indian elections

An Android app is designed and developed to reduce voter’s woes during the Indian elections. iElection, the app, will find out the voter’s details like the polling station and ward based on the voter’s name and an SMS can be sent to the voter with those details.

This app will reduce the hassle around not finding a name in the polling booth, a top reason for people not voting. Sounds like a cool app idea, but there are two problems with the app.

iElection Android app costs Rs. 25000 to Rs. 30000 and it is for Android tablets only.

 This could probably be the costliest Android app from India and probably costliest Android app ever. The app costs more than many Android tablets out there. The app is specifically targeted for the politician aides who would like gather every single vote they can get.

“Any candidate who buys iElection gets a login-id and password according to the party he/she belong to. It also comes with a database of voters in that candidate’s ward, which is acquired from the local municipal corporation and the election commission. After entering a voter’s name, his/her polling station, room number and poll booth number will reflect on the screen. The user can send the information by SMS to that voter with the click of a button after entering the voter’s mobile number,” (Indian Express)

Handing out the voter’s list to party candidates? Is that even legal?

The app isn’t available in the Android market which means not everybody with a credit card can get access to the app.  Which is one good thing.

One of the funniest features of the apps is this:

Voter’s name and other details can be changed in the app. But they will not be reflected anywhere else.

One question: What good is that?

On the first reading, this app sure looks expensive. On a second thought though, what this app does is get the voter’s list in the municipalities and constituencies and made it searchable. I’m not sure if this is legal and not sure if the voter’s list can be handed out to anybody and everybody, but a lot of effort has gone into making the app.

Choosing Android and not iOS/iPad is an intersting choice for such an expensive app. Probably they spent their efforts on getting the data and skimped on development.

If this app was for iPad, it wouldn’t raise as many eyebrows.

Looking at the clientele this app wants to serve, Rs. 25000 looks like a chump change.