IT powers the Majlis As'Shura elections

Bahwan IT is proud to be associated with Oman's progress with The Majlis As'Shura Elections in 2007, Mr. Ramakrishna Sathyagopal, Project Manager for the Elections from Bahwan IT said.

"IT is the prime mover behind this process. The fact that results can be obtained within hours of polling is a matter to be proud of as very few countries can boast of such fast declarations."

Bahwan IT along with the Election Preparatory Committee from the Ministry of Interior has been working for the last two years on the entire process and modales of the election to be held.

These include printing specialized ballot papers, supplying indelible voters ink, developing the voter registration software for the voting phase to supplying automated vote sorting machines and providing the Vote sorting and Counting software for the results counting phase.

Data capture in terms of Optical Mark Recognition is the driver behind this technology. The ballot papers contain the candidate names of the respective Wilayats along with a color photograph and a tick box for voters to mark their choice.

The design in itself is very unique and not used anywhere else in the world, having photographs beside the names of candidates makes easy identification.

Security features in the ballot papers which include unique barcodes with secret check digits, clock tracks and decode matrices and other secretly placed features make it very secure, comparable to a currency note and impossible to duplicate. The features in the ballot paper also facilitate fast identification and counting.

Bahwan IT, along with its technology partner in the UK, M/s. DRS Limited have printed these specialized ballot papers in the UK.

61 different variants of the ballot papers have been printed as the number of candidates range from 3 to 29.

Along with these specialized ballot papers, high speed vote sorting machines which can scan up to 8000 forms an hour are also deployed by Bahwan IT and the Ministry of Interior at the 60 different Wilayats.

These vote sorting machines are equipped with special software, developed by Bahwan IT, specially for this election which would give the counting reports and results complete with candidate names and photographs respective to that Wilayat.

A feature of the elections this time around is that the vote counting can be viewed online by the candidates and supporters alike on large television screens placed outside the counting center.

The entire process here being a technology marriage with the new and the reliable makes it a time proven.

The Sultanate leads the way by being the first country in the GCC and the Middle East region to incorporate such ballot papers and deploy high end automated vote sorting machines.

In 2003 the process was pretty much like an amoeba devoid of any form, Mr. Ramakrishna said, Bahwan IT understood the process of elections here, acted consultants, understood requirements, crystallized the process, conducted a successful election in 2003 and this is now being used for 2007 as well

The entire process is uncomplicated and with the usage of technology and automated equipment there would be a very fast throughput enabling results to be declared the night of the election itself.

The polling time is set between 7 am and 7 pm and subsequently the ballot boxes will be brought to the Wali's offices which are the counting centers.

The set up ensures that each Wilayat is localized with its own polling and counting centers.

Given Oman's geography, it is a real challenge to cover the 1800 km of its coastline and reach the interior places in the shortest available time.

For this entire logistics effort, Bahwan IT have trained over 150 ministry officials from the Ministry of Interior and The Ministry of Justice, these officials would be part of the committee who would man the counting center.

Apart from this Bahwan IT have deployed over 150 of their own technicians to be at the counting center during the counting process and also deployed 12 flying squads to turn around immediately for support.

Bahwan IT has its own command center with over 25 people equipped with online status monitoring software to know the exact status throughput the election.

This only fortifies the initiatives Oman is taking to be on the technology map of the world, where all eyes are on Oman for this landmark event.