How a Chennai-based face recognition firm helped Bihar use mobile voting

FaceTagr, which claims to be in the world's top one per cent in facial recognition technology accuracy, is also being used by defence personnel on the border, besides corporates and airports

On June 28, Bihar created history by becoming the first state in India to implement mobile phone-based e-voting during local body elections. This landmark achievement was driven by two mobile voting applications, one each developed by the Bihar State Election Commission (SEC) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Hyderabad, and a facial recognition system provided by Chennai-based tech startup FaceTagr.

 

On Saturday, when polling was held, the company's AI-driven technology helped the Election Commission in reducing bogus and duplicate votes in 489 booths, with 538 candidates. This technology was used both at physical voting booths and for mobile voting as well.

 

FaceTagr, which made the facial recognition part of voting possible, started almost seven years ago when its promoters Vijay Gnanadesikan and Elango Meenakshisundaram decided to venture into the face recognition sector after a failed tech startup on augmented reality (AR) in the 2000s.

How does the technology work?

"In all the biometric devices there is a secondary camera or an IR device. In regular phones, you don't have the luxury of two cameras; you only have a front or a back camera to detect if a photograph or video is being shown. Our AI algorithm even detects whether it is a live person or somebody trying to cheat," said Gnanadesikan.

 

The company was recognized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) for its accuracy and speed, with a 99.91 per cent accuracy rate in paperless travel. He claims that its platform is among the top one per cent in the world in terms of accuracy.

 

In Bihar, the SEC had built one application, while C-DAC chipped in with another app for the entire process of mobile voting. "We are device agnostic. Meaning, it can work on any Android mobile and work without the internet also," he added. The system was designed for voters who face challenges in reaching polling booths, including the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and migrant labourers based in other states. Only pre-registered users were allowed to vote via the e-voting platform.

 

"The safety part was done by those two applications. It is all handled by end-to-end encrypted blockchain and stores encrypted images. No trace of whom they voted for comes out, as it is a tunnel with two safe ends. All built with blockchains," Gnanadesikan added, explaining the privacy and security aspects.

 

Even a screenshot of the vote is not allowed as all buttons of the phone get disabled. "It was ensured that the person was present in front of the camera at the time of the vote. The technology makes it anonymous votes," he said. To monitor the face recognition on mobile and at physical booths, a centralised war room was also set up. "Everything is centralised at district headquarter war rooms. If they see patterns of somebody overriding in booths, there is an early intervention," he said. Using one smartphone, two people can cast votes.

Unorthodox beginnings

The two promoters started this venture while helping Chennai Police trace missing girls across India. Later, the Supreme Court observed in one of its hearings that the government should make use of the company's potential, said Gnanadesikan.

 

By that time, several agencies, from the Rashtriya Rifles to monitor LoC operations, and corporates like Titan and Future Group, were reportedly using the company's services. It was during this time that the Bihar SEC approached FaceTagr. Now, it is in talks with at least four more state election bodies. Its technology is also being used by 13 airports in India and across the world.

 

"A lot of north Indian states have workforce in other states. They want to bring an efficient solution. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Bihar are all trying to get a solution for this," said Gnanadesikan. With their new-found success in Bihar, he proudly claims, "We are the best face recognition company in India."