Do you know these Mobile apps for voters ?

The Election Commission (EC) of India has announced the dates of polling for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.In this post,we take look at the recently launched mobile apps for voters.

#1.Voter Helpline

Taking forward its continuous efforts of building an active democratic citizenry in the country, Election Commission of India has undertaken a new initiative by designing a Mobile Application for developing a culture of avid electoral engagement and making informed and ethical ballot decisions among citizens of the country. The app aims to provide a single point of service and information delivery to voters across the country. The app provides following facilities to Indian voters:

• Electoral Search (#GoVerify your name in the electoral roll)
• Submission of online forms for New Voter Registration, shifting to a different
  the constituency, for Overseas Voters, Deletion or Objection in the electoral roll, correction of entries & Transposition within Assembly.
• Register Complaints related to Electoral Services and track its disposal status
• FAQ on Voter, Elections, EVM, & Results
• Service & Resources for Voters & Electoral Officers

#2.cVIGIL

cVIGIL provide time stamped evidentiary proof of model code of conduct / Expenditure Violation, having live photo/video with auto location data. This unique combination of timestamping, live photo with auto location can be fairly relied upon by election machinery to navigate to the right spot and take prompt action. The GIS-based dashboard provides strong decision tool to drop and dispose of frivolous and unrelated cases even before they are acted upon, thereby reducing the workload of election machinery on ghost complaints.

Presently there is a lack of fast information channel to transmit and track complaints on MCC violations. Delay in reporting of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations has often resulted in the culprits escaping detection from the flying squads of election commission entrusted to ensure enforcement of Model Code of Conduct. Further, lack of any documented, untampered, evidence in the form of pictures or videos was a major hurdle in establishing the veracity of a complaint ex-post facto. The Commission’s experience has also shown a significant percentage of reporting was false or inaccurate, which led to wastage of precious time of Field Units.

The new cVIGIL app launched by Election Commission of India is expected to fill in all these gaps and create a fast-track complaint reception and redressal system. ‘cVIGIL’ stands for Vigilant Citizen and emphasizes the proactive and responsible role citizens can play in the conduct of free and fair elections.

Citizens are, encouraged to use the ECI main website for lodging the other type of complaints or call the National Contact Centre at 1800111950 or State Contact Centre at 1950 for other complaints.

#3.MxDemocracy

Mx. Democracy is a digital game developed by Election Commission of India (ECI) in collaboration with National Institute of Design (NID) Bangalore.

Players can customize their game character as a Male, Female or Transgender with the clothing and skin tone that they like. The player’s character embarks upon a quest to learn all about elections in India. In their journey, they will discover hidden scrolls and meet the following 6 characters at different levels and learn about different aspects of election:

1.New Voter – Voter registration process
2.Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) – Types of voters and forms
3.Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) – Enforcing Model Code of Conduct
4.Booth Level Officer (BLO) – Voter Slip distribution
5.Returning Officer (RO) – Preparing the Ballot
6.Presiding Officer – Poll Day Preparations and Polling Process

The game levels have been designed to provide a simulated experience of real-life processes that facilitate learning through practice, failure, discovery, repetition and experimentation. No knowledge is force fed to player which increases interest and takeaway learning.

The player also learns how to register as a voter, making changes to details in Electoral Roll, ethical and informed voting and facilities available at polling station and how to cast their vote using EVM-VVPAT machine. There is also a reward badge for the player at the end of the game.

For the players who have never used an EVM-VVPAT machine before, the game provides a hands-on experience through simulation.

All the knowledge pieces and achievements in the game can be shared directly on social media to promote peer learning and participation. Players are encouraged to share these online to get a chance to get featured on ECI’s official social media accounts.

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