Online voting in Abu Dhabi for Bhatkalli community

Markaz Al Nawayath hosts Iftar gathering for Bhatkalli community in Abu Dhabi on Friday Bhatkallys News Abu Dhabi, 17 June 2016: Bringing together people to celebrate the spirit of communion and sharing, Markaz Al Nawayath Abu Dhabi hosted its annual Iftar gathering on Friday. More than 100 members of the Bhatkalli community attended the event hosted at Foodland Abu Dhabi as a delegation from Jamia Islamia Bhatkal, represented by Moulana Wasiullah and Moulana Shuaib Ekkeri, also interacted with Bhatkalli residents of Abu Dhabi. The Iftar also coincided with the election of Markaz Al Nawayath’s new executive body as members participated in the first ever online voting for a Bhatkalli institution. Voters who used an online voting system, specially developed by Bhatkallys.com, elected eleven new members. Explaining the online voting system, Mohibullah Siddi Ahmeda, Election Commissioner, said, “We wanted to move away from the traditional paper ballot and stamps and this led us to explore options in paperless voting. Together with Bhatkallys.com, we worked on developing an effective mechanism to make it easier for voters and officials to host a community election.” Featuring paperless voting, each voter received a unique code to access the ballot paper online. Once verified, the voter could select the candidates of their choice and submit their selection anonymously. Interestingly, the move towards online saved several hours of counting efforts as the results were announced almost instantly. Mohibullah added, “We were very impressed with the simple yet effective solution provided by Bhatkallys.com. The solution is completely automated and we did not face any difficulties. Most importantly, the people who came to vote had a wonderful experience as they could finish the process faster.” He requested other Bhatkalli organisations to utilise the solution in future elections and thanked Bhatkallys.com for their support. Earlier during the day, the delegation from Jamia Islamia Bhatkal reflected on the importance of Ramadan and encouraged attendees to develop a link with educational institutions in Bhatkal. Senior officials from the organisation also stressed on the importance of NRI’s paying a visit to Jamia Islamia during their stay in Bhatkal. Markaz Al Nawayath also extended a warm welcome to members of the Bhatkallys Board of Directors. Muaz Shabandri and Abdul Mateen Muniri expressed their appreciation of the efforts of Bhatkalli community in Abu Dhabi, while inviting them to benefit from the new Urdu Audio mobile app launched by Bhatkallys.com. The Urdu Audio app is free of cost and features more than 3600 audios from 350 speakers. The event’s proceedings came to a close with a dua followed by the Iftar. New executive body of Markaz Al Nawayath, Abu Dhabi: 1) Ashraf Ali Musba 2) Syed Sameer Shirbadi 3) Atef Udyawar 4) Tanseer Ahmed Khateeb 5) Abdul Haseeb Kadli 6) Jailani Ruknuddin 7) Masab Musba 8) Riyaz Ahmed M J 9) Syed Mohd Saleh Ali Akbara 10) Moulana Mudassir Ali Bapu 11) S.M.Syed Abdulraheem Ashraf Kola, Mohibullah Siddi Ahmeda and Abdul Latif Siddqua have been nominated from the outgoing executive body to continue for a consecutive term. Three members nominated from Al Ain include - Shuaib Qazi, Aftab M.J. and Izhar Siddiqa. Musba Farooq and Damda Mohammed Jafer will serve as patrons. Features of the online voting solution 1) Paperless voting 2) Generate ballot paper online 3) Voting on iPad and mobile 4) Single-click instant election result 5) Data is saved for audit and verification purpose 6) Vote from anywhere in the world Bhatkallys.com has offered the solution free of cost to community associations and more organisations