The Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced cVIGIL, a citizen mobile application, to encourage people to participate in the process of elections.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena has exhorted people to use the App effectively to lodge complaints on the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations.
“Any complaint lodged on the cVIGIL must be addressed within 100 minutes of receiving it,” the CEO said in a statement.
“As of March 20, a total of 1,307 complaints have been received on the App, and 74% of them have been addressed within the stipulated time,” Mr. Meena said, adding that they are aiming at redressing at least 95% of the issues withing the time frame. “The remaining complaints have some limitations as various departments have to be involved to address them,” he said.
“Defacement of properties such as posters and banners at public places, distribution of cash or kind, intimidation, transportation of voters by parties or candidates, and other such MCC violations can be raised through the App,” he said.
Some of the features of the App are that it allows the users to report the violations, uses GPS to track the location where the violation took place, allows the users to capture the incidents of violation live, helps track the status of the complaint, and allows the users to report the violations anonymously.
“The App is a valuable tool for ensuring free, fair and transparent elections,” Mr. Meena said.
“Once a citizen downloads the App and enters his or her mobile number and constituency, it allows him to lodge the complaint. The complaints will land at the District Control Centre (DCC), where they will check the location from where the citizen lodged it. The DCC will act on it within five minutes and forward it to the Flying Squad Team (FST). Each FST consists of an executive magistrate, ASI-rank police officer, along with another three constables. There are a minimum of nine teams in each Assembly constituency to work round the clock,” he said.
The FST team has to reach the spot within 15 minutes, act on the complaint within 30 minutes and submit the same to the Returning Officer (RO), who in turn will complete the process in the next 15 minutes.
“If the complaint is genuine, then action will be taken. If required, it will be escalated to the National Grievance Service Portal (NGSP),” he said.
