VIJAYAWADA: Vigilant citizens are taking the help of the cVIGIL mobile application to leave no stone unturned to ensure free and fair conduct of elections. They are using the application to complain about the political parties that flouting the regulations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), as prescribed by the Election Commission of India (EC).
cVIGIL stands for ‘vigilant citizen’ and the application was launched to throw light on the role of the citizen in the conduct of free and fair elections.
Complaints lodged through the app regarding money distribution, liquor/drugs distribution, firearms display, intimidation, communal hate speech, paid news, distribution of freebies, voters’ transportation and property defacement and other violations, will be addressed by the flying squad team within minutes.
The team will reach the spot in 15 minutes, finish the fact-finding procedure in 30 minutes and update the developments to the returning officer in 50 minutes.
Talking about the cVIGIL control center, Krishna district Superintendent of Police (SP) Sarvashreth Tripathi said that the complaint reported on the application will be forwarded to a flying squad for investigation through another application meant for the department officials. After a complaint is lodged, a unique identification number is generated to allow the complainants to track its status.
“Through cVIGIL, the complainant uploads a live video or pictures of the violation of MCC. The time and location is displayed automatically as part of the complaint. This is why the complaints made on the application can be relied upon by the election machinery. This also helps them navigate to the right spot and take prompt action,” said the SP.
As of now, as many as 72 complaints have come from across the district. These include 18 complaints from Vijayawada, which are about non-removal of political posters and flexes and uncovering of statues etc.