Lok Sabha Elections: Code violation complaints start trickling in

PUNE: Citizens’ complaints related to poll code violation cases have started trickling in through the Election Commission’s c-Vigil application.


The district administration has so far registered 14 such cases and addressed each of them within 100 minutes, the time stipulated by the Election Commission of India (EC), Pune collector Naval Kishore Ram said on Friday.

Most of the citizens’ complaints related to the banners and posters the political parties and ministers have not removed after the model code of conduct came into force. The complaints were addressed by the respective assistant returning officers (ARO) from the Kasba Peth, Maval, Vadgaonsheri, Shivajinagar, Indapur and Parvati constituencies.

The EC launched the app, c-Vigil, ahead of announcing the Lok Sabha election schedule on Sunday. Citizens can download the app on their phones, take photographs or capture video clips about any poll code violation and report the incidents within five minutes.

With the application being used for the first time, there were some initial problems. “But all the complaints were addressed,” additional collector and c-Vigil nodal officer Suresh Jadhav said.

“As many as 26 complaints have reached us through the application. Of them, 14 were found valid as they related to the model code of conduct. Most of the cases were of banners and posters carrying names of the incumbent MLAs and MPs or those of birthday wishes. The AROs removed them immediately,” he added.

The officials said the application was launched, as there was a lack of a fast information channel to transmit and track complaints related to violations of model code of conduct and poll expenditure.

The officials said they were looking forward to active use of the application by the citizens in Maharashtra , as 68% of the complaints during the Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh , Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana assembly elections were registered through the c-Vigil application .