ECI's cVIGIL and Voter Helpline App get 'Award of Excellence'

'cVIGIL' and 'Voter Helpline App' -- two innovative ICT applications of the Election Commission of India, developed in-house, have won the eGovernance 'Award of Excellence' for the year 2019.

The award was presented at KiiT, Bhubaneswar, reads an official statement.

Dr Kushal Pathak, Director, ICT and CISO, ECI and Chief Electoral Officer of Odisha, Sushil Kumar Loh, received the award on behalf of the Election Commission.

These awards were given by the Computer Society of India (CSI), Special Interest Group on e-Governance (CSI SIG e-Gov), the statement added.

cVIGIL empowers citizens to report the Model Code of Conduct violations such as bribery, free gift, liquor distribution, playing loudspeakers beyond the permissible time during the elections.

By using the mobile app, the citizen captures the live photo or video. The election machinery comes into action immediately as they get the evidentiary proof of the violation. Every cVIGIL case is acted upon and replied back with the action taken in the 100-minute timeline, the statement said.

cVIGIL is now being used in Delhi Assembly elections. Since its first pilot in five states' Assembly general elections during October-December 2018 till the Jharkhand State Assembly General elections during November-December 2019, a total number of 1,71,745 cases have been filled through cVIGIL and from which 1,27,567 (74 per cent) of the cases have been found correct.

Voter helpline App with 2.16 crore downloads has taken roots as a major tool for citizen empowerment. The application provides an option for voters to search their name in 90-plus crore electors database, fill forms for new voter registration, migration and corrections, allow downloading of digital photo voter slips, displays the complete information about the contesting candidates and their affidavits and most importantly allows voters to view the real-time results.

"These awards of excellence to the ICT initiatives of ECI recognizes the ICT vision of Election Commission of India and the efforts of ECI officials at all levels in bringing eGovernance initiatives to fruition for the benefit of the Citizens and the stakeholders," the statement adds.

( With inputs from ANI )