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Former chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi tells Shantanu Nandan Sharma that some global internet and social media companies approached the ECI in 2013 to get an access of its voters’ data base on the pretext of promoting democracy, which was turned down. Zaidi was with EC during 2012-2017. Excerpts:The EC has no formal agreement or MoU with Facebook. In 2017, the EC let the Facebook to issue a reminder to those who were turning 18 or who are 18 plus but not enrolled as yet. In January this year, those in 18-19 cohort were alerted again by Facebook: Are you a registered voter? Those who said yes were redirected to the ECI website. That’s all. Also, on National Voters’ Day this year ( January 25), Facebook issued a pledge for newly eligible electorate. But it has never been given any access to EC’s database or voter’s list.Some internet and social media giants approached the EC in late 2013 for access to its voters’ database on the pretext of promoting democracy. But the EC categorically said, “No”. We took a view that the EC won’t allow anyone to access the database. Personal information of voters like phone number, email, photo are not visible on ECI’s website. In fact, EC’s data base is hosted on NIC and BSNL servers and are highly protected by multilayered security walls. Also, periodic security audits are conducted. Till date, there hasn’t been a single data breach of ECI.ECI has stood for free, fair and transparent elections . ‘Fair’ means the voters must not be unduly influenced in any external way. As it has surfaced now, psychological warfare tool was allegedly used by some companies and entities abroad. It’s a new menace for fair electoral process. So, all stakeholders, including the ECI, must initiate a larger consultation process and recommend the formulation of a new legal provision, if needed, and also adopt an appropriate regulatory framework to curb this new menace.