Citizens will be the Election Commission’s eyes and ears in its fight to curb electoral malpractices. An innovative technology designed by the poll panel will now allow public-spirited citizens to report any electoral malpractice straight to the commission.
The Android-based software will allow any person using an Android-based phone to click pictures or record videos or audio clips of election candidates giving inflammatory speeches or distributing cash, liquor or such allurements to voters and upload it on the Election Commission’s (EC) website. Through this software, all district, State and Central electoral officers will be able to verify the veracity of the uploaded content by tracking its geographical coordinates, time and place of video/audio clip in order to weed out fake posts.
The EC-public interface is one of the major technology leaps undertaken by the EC.Citizens to be EC’s eyes & ears now!
Officials in the commission said till date it had to depend on the local or State election unit to supply information relating to electoral malpractices. “The software is unique as it can automatically locate the coordinates of the area, date and time, to verify whether the post is fake or not,” an EC official said. Once the real time feed is found to be credible, the poll panel can immediately initiate action.
The EC intimated all Chief Electoral Offices about the new software through a communication dated April 22 that also briefed them on how they can receive posts through the web link. The commission has given strict instructions on maintaining confidentiality of the people supplying such information.
“This has been done to encourage citizens to upload photos, videos, audios of any malpractices they witness during election campaigning or at public meetings held by candidates,” the EC official added. The EC has further asked its CEOs to ensure that as soon as any video or audio is uploaded, the matter is brought to the notice of the election expenditure monitoring team to enable swift action against the candidate or political leader in question.