Indian EC launches app to fight polls-time irregularities
As India braces for state-level and fresh parliamentary elections in the coming months, the country's Election Commission has launched an Android-based app to report any irregularity during the democratic exercise.
The "cVIGIL" app, launched by Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, along with the Election Commissioners Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa yesterday, will be operational only in areas where elections are announced, reports our correspondent in New Delhi.
On successful completion of the trial of the app that is underway, the application will be made available for general use by all, right from the forthcoming legislative assembly elections in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan.
The practical use of the app during the assembly polls in the four states will also serve as a pilot initiative before it is put to extensive use during the next parliamentary elections early next year, Rawat told the media.
The app requires an Android smartphone equipped with a camera, good internet connection and GPS access. The operating system should be Android Jellybean and above. The application supports all the latest Android smartphones, he said.
"cVIGIL" will allow anyone in the election-bound area to report violations of the Model Code of Conduct that comes into effect from the date of announcement of elections and goes on till a day after the polls.
By using this app, citizens can immediately report on incidents of misconduct within minutes of having witnessed them and without having to rush to the office of the Returning Officer to lodge a complaint, Rawat said.
All that the citizen has to do is to click a picture or record a video of up to two minutes' duration of the scene of violations of the Model Code of Conduct. The photo or video is to be uploaded on the app. The automated location mapping will be done by the app using the Geographic Information System.
After its successful submission through the app, the citizen gets a unique ID to track and receive the follow up updates on her or his mobile. A citizen can report many incidents in this manner and will get a unique ID for each report for follow up updates. The identity of the complainant will be kept confidential, the EC said.
Once the complaint is lodged, the information beeps in the District Control Room from where it is assigned to a field unit of the Election Commission.A field unit, consisting of flying squads, static surveillance teams, reserve teams etc. will have a GIS-based mobile application called 'cVIGIL Dispatcher' which allows the unit to directly reach the location through navigation technology and take action.
After a field unit has taken action, it messages and uploads the relevant document as 'action taken report' via the 'cVIGIL Dispatcher' to the Returning Officer concerned for his decision and disposal.
If the incident is found correct, the information is sent to the National Grievance Portal of the Election Commission of India for further action and the vigilant citizen is informed about the action taken within hundred minutes.
The app has inbuilt features to prevent its misuse, the EC said. To prevent misuse, the app will not allow uploading of the pre-recorded or old images and videos nor will it facilitate saving of the photos or videos recorded using the 'cVIGIL' app into the phone gallery.
Further, the application will be active only in states where elections have been announced. The moment a citizen exits an election-bound state, the app will become inactive.
The EC admitted that so far, complaints about violations of the Model Code of Conduct often could not be followed instantly, leading to the violators escaping detection from the Commission's action squads. Also, lack of any documented evidence in the form of pictures or videos was seen as a hurdle in verifying a complaint.
Further, the absence of a robust response system to quickly and accurately identify the scene of occurrence of irregularity with the help of geographical location details hampered election officers' ability to apprehend the violators, the EC said adding the new app is expected to fill all these gaps and create a fast-track complaint reception and redressal system.
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