EC Enhances Usage Of IT Application: Social Media Will Promote Voter Turnout

‘SVEEP’ is promoting online portals and mobile apps to empower citizens with knowledge about their electoral rights; Voter Information Slip will include information like Polling Station, Date, Time etc. with QR code; Photo Electoral Rolls will be used; Announcement of schedule for general elections to Lok Sabha And Legislative Assemblies Of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha & Sikkim, 2024

The Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar along with the Election Commissioners, Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu announced the Schedule for General Elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies

FinTech BizNews Service    

Mumbai, March 17, 2024: The term of 17th Lok Sabha is due to expire on 16th June, 2024.  Article 324 of the Constitution of India bestows the relevant powers, duties and functions upon the Election Commission of India (hereinafter ECI), while Article 83(2) of the Constitution of India and Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act-1951 provides for the conduct of the elections to constitute a new Lok Sabha before the expiry of its current term. In view of this constitutional and legal provisions, the Election Commission of India has made comprehensive preparations for the conduct of elections to the 18th Lok Sabha in a free, fair, participative, accessible, inclusive, transparent and peaceful manner.

2. Further, ECI is also to conduct election to the Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim before the cessation of their terms, in exercise of the authority and powers conferred upon under Article 324 read with Article 172 (1) of the Constitution of India and Section 15 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
3. The term and strength along with seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Assembly Constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim are as under:

4. Elections to the world’s largest democracy pose immense challenges with respect to logistics and man/ woman and material management and the Commission’s endeavor in this direction has been to consult all stakeholders, invite inputs from all relevant departments/ organizations and evolve a coordinated framework for smooth delivery of yet another round of General Election.
5. In the course of assessing various dimensions involved in holding elections to the 543 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) and Assembly Election in 4 States, in particular, the parameters to be considered for their scheduling and phasing, the Election Commission of India has planned meticulously for each and every aspect of election much in advance to ensure that these elections are conducted in free, fair, participative, accessible, peaceful and inclusive manner.
6. In the run-up to the General Election to Lok Sabha-2024 and Assembly Election in 4 States, the Commission organized a Conference of the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all the States and Union Territories on 11th and 12th January, 2024 at New Delhi. All aspects of election preparedness were reviewed for each State/UT and relevant instructions were issued to the CEOs to ensure efficient conduct of the elections.
7.  The Commission also organised 5 Regional Conferences at Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Lucknow to review Poll preparedness, to find out any gaps and ways to fill them. These Regional conferences were headed by the Senior Officers of the Commission and were attended by the Chief Electoral officers and State Police Nodal Officers.
8. The Commission has visited many States/UTs to review the poll preparedness and during the visit, the Commission interacted with political parties, enforcement agencies, all District Officers, SSPs/SPs, Divisional Commissioners, Range IGs, CS/DGPs and other senior officers of the States/UTs.
9. The team of senior officers of the Commission visited various States to review law and order situation, to ascertain State/ UT specific areas of concern, to discuss the quantum of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) required in each State/ UT and to review the overall preparedness of the election machinery. The cooperation of all authorities was sought for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections across the country under the overall superintendence, direction and control of the Commission.

The conduct of General Elections in the entire country requires considerable deployment of Central and State Police Forces to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections with fearless participation of electors, especially in vulnerable areas/pockets. 

Keeping in view the interests of the students and also the fact that Polling Stations are mostly located in school buildings and teachers are engaged as polling personnel, the Commission has consciously factored-in the examination schedules of Central Board of Secondary Education and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education in the process of finalizing the poll dates. In addition to this, other relevant factors like various holidays and festivals falling in the months of March, April and May, harvest season in certain parts of the country and the inputs obtained from the Indian Meteorological Department on weather conditions have also been taken into consideration.

For enhancing electoral participation, the Commission has directed to take following initiatives:

Low Voter Turnout (LVT) analysis: CEOs/ DEOs have been directed to identify low voter turnout PSs/ ACs/ PCs and take targeted initiatives to address specific gaps.

Identification of district specific themes of PS:

As the PS is the basic unit of election machinery, it has been directed to focus on district wise PSs for targeted interventions reaching out various groups like women, PWD, Transgender, PVTGs, etc. Model Polling stations to be set up keeping in view the NVD theme.

SVEEP: Social Media To Increase Voter Turnout

SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) is a comprehensive programme aimed at reinforcing voter education and promoting active participation in India's democratic process. The need for SVEEP arises from the Election Commission of India's unwavering commitment to ensuring the participation of every voter in this monumental celebration of democracy.

SVEEP employs a combination of general and targeted interventions, carefully tailored to align with the socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic characteristics of each state. SVEEP addresses not only the registration gaps but also more glaring issues such as voter apathy, behavioural patterns, and the reasons behind such apathy in different elections.

SVEEP is using tools like social media to increase voter turnout and make the electoral process more inclusive and accessible. Promoting online portals and mobile apps to empower citizens with knowledge about their electoral rights and simplify online electoral services.

SVEEP plays a crucial role in promoting voter awareness and participation, emphasising the importance of democratic engagement in building a stronger and more inclusive society. As the Election Commission prepares for the General Elections of 2024, it remains committed to empowering citizens and strengthening democracy through its SVEEP initiatives.

COMMUNICATION PLAN:

Commission attaches great importance to preparation and implementation of a perfect communication plan at the district/constituency level for the smooth conduct of elections and to enable concurrent intervention and mid-course correction on the poll day. For the said purpose, the Commission has directed the Chief Electoral Officers of all the States/UTs to coordinate with the officers of Department of Telecommunication in the State headquarter, BSNL authorities, the representatives of other leading telecom service providers in the State so that network status in the State is assessed and communication shadow areas be identified.

The Commission has directed to set up Integrated Control Rooms at State Level and District Level for monitoring of election related activities and ensuring co-ordination among various agencies during election for smooth conduct of free and fair election. 

ELECTORAL ROLLS:

The process of continuous updation of electoral rolls will continue till the last date of filing nominations, with respect to proximate qualifying date.

2. The total electorate in the country as per finally published Electoral rolls with reference to 01.01.2024 as the qualifying date is 968.8 million compared to 896 million in 2019. This marks an increase of more than 72.8 million electors. Over 18.4 million electors are in 18-19 years age group. Electors in the age group of 18-19 years constitute 1.89% of total electors. The number of electors enrolled as "Third Gender" (written as TG) is 48,044. Parliament amended the Representation of the People Act, 1950, allowing enrollment of Indian citizens living overseas as electors. 1,18,439 overseas electors have been enrolled in the current electoral rolls. There are 19,08,194 service electors in the electoral rolls. There is a total of 88,35,449 PwD all over the country in which there exist 52,65,076 male PwD electors, 35,69,933 female PwD electors and 440 Third Gender PwD electors. As on 10th March, 2024, there is a total of 81,87,999 Senior Citizen electors above 85 years and 2,18,442 electors above 100 years.

PHOTO ELECTORAL ROLLS AND ELECTOR PHOTO IDENTITY CARDS (EPIC):

Photo Electoral Rolls will be used during the General Elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim. EPIC is one of the documents for establishing the identity of the elector at the time of voting. All out efforts are being made to ensure 100% delivery of EPIC to all newly registered electors.

VOTER INFORMATION SLIPS (VIS):

 To facilitate voters in knowing the serial number of electoral roll in their polling station, date of poll, time etc., ‘Voter Information Slip’ will be issued. Voter Information Slip will include information like Polling Station, Date, Time etc. with QR code but not the photograph of the voter. Voter Information Slips will be distributed at least 5 days before the date of poll to all enrolled electors, by the District Election Officer. However, Voter Information Slip will not be allowed as proof of the identity of voters.

IDENTIFICATION OF VOTERs AT POLLING STATIONs:

For identification of voters at Polling Station, the Voter shall present his EPIC or any of the following identification documents as approved by the Commission: -

1.   Aadhaar Card,

ii.            MGNREGA Job Card,

iii.          Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office,

iv.           Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of the               Ministry of Labour,

v.            Driving License,

vi.           PAN Card,

vii.         Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR,

viii.        Indian Passport,

ix.           Pension document with photograph,

x.            Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by                  Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies,

xi.           Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs and

xii.         Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card, issued by M/o Social                                         Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.

MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT:

Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately from the announcement of schedule.

41. VIDEOGRAPHY/ WEBCASTING/CCTV COVERAGE:

To conduct free, fair, inclusive and transparent election, in polling stations, where CAPF is not deployed due to non-availability or otherwise, one or more of the following civil (non-force) measures are kept to watch the polling process:

1. Micro Observer
2. Video Camera
3. CCTV
4. Webcasting

Social Media & Elections:

The media landscape has seen a paradigm shift over the last decade. Social media has now emerged as a powerful communication & campaigning medium for all stakeholders, now also referred to as the fifth pillar of democracy. Considering its rising importance, the Commission proactively vide its instruction dated 25th October 2013 laid down instructions to guide and regulate the use of social media in election campaigns. Key features of the instructions are as follows:

1. Social media by definition falls under the category ‘electronic media’ thus, all political advertisements on social media fall under the purview of pre-certification.
2. Candidates are required to furnish details of their authentic social media accounts in Form-26 while filing nominations.
3. Candidates and political parties are required to incorporate expenditure of social media campaigning including expenditure on political advertisements, cost of maintaining the accounts, developing content and salaries of the employees who manage the accounts in the election expenditure account of the candidate.
4. Candidates and political parties are required to pre-certify political advertisements before release on internet-based media/social media websites
5. Provisions of Model Code of Conduct and related instructions are applicable to the content posted on social media platforms by candidates and political parties.

Keeping in view increasing incidents of misuse of social media and as a result of ECI's vigorous persuasion, major Social Media Platforms agreed to observe Voluntary Code of Ethics formulated by them in March, 2019. This will be applicable in these elections as well.

An SOP for identification and quick response to any fake news/misinformation had been shared with CEOs and DEOs of all the States/UTs for time bound response.

Social media Cell in collaboration with cyber cell unit in all districts have been constituted for quick response and action with the legal framework including Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and the Information Technology (Intermediary guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The Commission requests all Political Parties and candidates to ensure that their supporters do not indulge in hate speeches and fake news. Strict watch on social media posts is being kept by MCMCs to ensure that the election atmosphere is not vitiated. Media may also play an active role in curbing the menace of fake news.

Monitoring of Electronic and Social Media:

All the election management related news on all the major national and regional news channels during elections would be monitored vigorously. If any untoward incident or violation of any law/rule is noticed, action would be taken immediately. Reports of monitoring would also be forwarded to the CEOs. Office of CEO will ascertain status on each and every item and file ATR/Status Report.

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVMs)  AND VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER AUDIT TRAIL (VVPATs):

EVMs and VVPATs-The Commission shall deploy Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) along with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at every polling station in the General Elections to Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election process as VVPAT allows the voter to verify his/her vote. Arrangements have already been made to ensure availability of adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of elections.

GPS tracking of movement of EVMs and VVPATs- The Commission has instructed the Chief Electoral Officers of all States/ UTs that end-to-end movement of all EVMs and VVPATs including reserve shall be carefully monitored at all times, for which vehicle carrying EVMs and VVPATs shall mandatorily be fitted with GPS tracking system.

IT APPLICATIONS BEING USED IN ELECTION MANAGEMENT-

The Commission has enhanced usage of IT Application, to usher in greater citizen participation and transparency.

1. cVIGIL App for filing Model Code of Conduct Violation cases by Citizen: cVIGIL provides time-stamped evidentiary proof of the Model Code of Conduct/ Expenditure Violation by empowering every citizen to click a photo or video using his or her smartphone. The application is based on GIS technology and the unique feature of auto location provides fairly correct information which can be relied upon by flying squads to navigate to the right spot of incidence and take prompt action. This app prioritizes the speedy and effective actions by authorities and promised users status reports within 100 minutes. The application is available on the Google Play store and Apple App Store.
2. Suvidha Portal: This portal provides different facility to candidates/ political parties for online nomination, Permission as given below-

1. Candidate Online Nomination: To facilitate filling of nominations, the Election Commission has introduced an online portal for filling the nomination & affidavit. The Candidate can visit https://suvidha.eci.gov.in/ to create his/her account, fill nomination form, deposit the security amount, check availability of time slot and appropriately plan his visit to the Returning Officer. Once the application is filled through the online portal, the candidate only needs to take a printout, get it notarized and submit the application along with relevant documents to the Returning Officer in person. The Online Nomination Facility is an optional facility to facilitate ease of filing and correct filing. The regular offline submission as prescribed under the law shall continue too.
2. Candidate Permissions module: The permission module allows the candidates, political parties or any representatives of the candidate to apply online for the permission for meetings, rallies, loudspeakers, temporary offices, and others through SUVIDHA Portal https://suvidha.eci.gov.in/. The Candidates can also track their application status through the same portal.
3. Candidate App: Suvidha: In view of COVID-19, the Commission has directed that allocation of public spaces for meetings and rallies must be done using the Suvidha app as far as practicable. The application will be available during elections for Candidates / Political Parties / Agents to download and use to track the nomination and permission status from the Google Play store.

iii) Candidate Affidavit Portal: Candidate Affidavit portal is a web portal that allows citizens to view the complete list of Candidate Nominations who have applied for the elections. The citizen, political parties and media houses to know about the candidates, accesses this portal. A complete candidate profile with photo and affidavit is made public as and when the Returning Officer enters the data. The Complete list of Contesting Candidates with their profile, nomination status and the affidavits will be available for public view through Candidate Affidavit Portal. This portal can be accessed using  https://affidavit.eci.gov.in

1. Know Your Candidates (KYC): The Election Commission of India has developed a dedicated app for Know your Candidate (KYC) for both Android and iOS platforms for informing about “Criminal Antecedents” status of candidates. This allows citizens to browse candidates with/ without Criminal Antecedents and empowers the citizens to know the criminal antecedents of the candidates. The application is available on the Google Play store and Apple App Store.
2. Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Management System (ETPBMS) for Service Voter:

1. Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Management System (ETPBMS) is upgraded version of ETPBS having enhanced features and Dashboard & Reporting modules for all stakeholders. The system is use to generate and transmit Postal Ballot through Electronic means to the Service Voters. The system has also been integrated with Department of Post so that Service voter can send his/her Ballot after casting vote, through speed post without paying any charges. Detailed instructions are sent, along with Postal Ballot, to each service elector. On the day of counting, the same system will be used to validate the Postal Ballot received by post to verify whether the received ePostal Ballot is generated by the system or not.
2. The Postal ballots sent to service electors electronically are called Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballots (ETPBs). The return of ETPB is through postal services.  Earlier, the envelopes for postal ballot were forwarded by the CEOs to the Record Officers in order to dispatch polled ETPBs by the service voters through post. Now, the Commission has decided that the CEOs are not required to send envelopes to the Record Officers for this purpose. The Record Officer/Unit Officer/Commandant or any other competent authority, as the case may be, shall procure the envelopes and provide them to the Service Voters for dispatching their polled ETPBs to the respective Returning Officers.

3. Voter Turnout App: Voter Turnout App will be used to display estimated provisional voter turnout details of each Assembly Constituency / Parliamentary Constituency entered by the Returning officer.  The media can also use the same application to capture estimated voter turnout data. Approximate voter turnout data of each phases of the elections will be displayed through this app. The application is available on the Google Play store and Apple App Store.
4.  ENCORE Portal: The ENCORE portal is an end-to-end application for all election officials (CEO, DEO, RO & ARO) that has a well-defined responsibility for each official to perform various activity in multiple modules. Brief introduction of different modules of this portal is given below:

1. Candidate Nomination: The Returning Officer will fill all the required details to register the profile of a candidate in the system that will be used at multiple levels of conduct of election process. For all received nominations, the Returning Officer needs to upload the affidavits. This is also applicable in case of multiple nominations by one candidate.
2. Candidate Scrutiny & Finalization: This system provides facility of marking nominations as Accepted / Rejected during scrutiny and marking of withdrawal if any candidate withdraws his candidature. After the last date of withdrawal, the returning officer can also generate his form 7A through the system.
3. Election Permission: The permission module allows the election officials to process the permission request received by the candidates, political parties or any representatives of the candidate who applied for any permission using SUVIDHA portal or submitted the permission request physically to election office.
4. Election Counting: The ENCORE counting application is an end-to-end application for AROs/ROs to digitize the votes polled in EVM and through Postal Ballot, tabulate the data each round to declare the result of the election. The same data of the election counting is used to prepare various statutory reports of counting.
5. Index Card: A facility has been provided to the Returning Officer to fill the Index card online after counting. It contains each detail of elections from the schedule of elections to the declaration of results such as data on nomination, turnout, counting etc.
6. Expenditure Monitoring: This expenditure-monitoring module provides facility to all the DEOs to feed the data of DEO Scrutiny reports prepared in respect of each candidate.

8.  Results Website and Results Trends TV: The timely publication of the round-wise information is vital for establishing a single source of authentic data. The counting data entered by respective Returning Officers is available as ‘Trends and Results’ for public view through ’ECI Results website’ https://results.eci.gov.in/ The result website has been upgraded with enhanced features including map view for better users’ experience. The results are shown with the Infographics and displayed with auto-scroll panels through large display screens outside the counting hall or any public place through Trends TV. The trends & results is also available on VHA mobile App.
9. EVM Management System (EMS 2.0): EVM Management System 2.0 is designed to manage inventory of EVM units. One of the important modes to ensure a fair and transparent process in EVM management is the administrative protocol of the two sets of randomizations of the machines before they are deployed in the Polling stations. The randomizations of EVMs/VVPATs are done through EMS 2.0 in the presence of recognized political parties/ contesting candidates/representatives and ECI Observers.
10. Voter Service portal: Through (https://voters.eci.gov.in ), a user can avail and access various services such as access the electoral list, apply for voter id card, apply online for corrections in voter’s card, view details of Polling Booth, Assembly Constituency and Parliamentary Constituency and get the contact details of Booth Level Officer, Electoral Registration Officer among other services.
11. Voter Helpline Mobile App (VHA): Citizens can avail and access various services such as apply for a voter ID card, apply online for corrections to voter's card, view details of the Polling Booth, Assembly Constituency, and Parliamentary Constituency, and get the contact details of the Booth Level Officer, Electoral Registration Officer among other services. The mobile app is available on the Google Play store and Apple App Store.
12. Persons with Disability Application (Saksham App): Saksham app is meant for Person with Disabilities. The PwD elector can make requests for marking them as PwD, request for new registration, request for migration, request for correction in EPIC details, request for wheelchair. It utilises the Accessibility features of mobile phones for voters with blindness and hearing disabilities. The application is available on the Google Play Store and Apple App store.
13. BLO App: BLO App (erstwhile known as GARUDA App) is a dedicated Mobile App for BLOs to perform their tasks digitally. The application is available on both the Google Play store and Apple App store. The following are the main features of the BLO App:

14.  ERONET: ERONET is a web-based system for Electoral officials, in 14 languages and 11 scripts, to handle all processes pertaining to Form 6/6A/7/8. It standardised forms processing, standard database schema, and a standard template for E-Roll printing. It automates the process of electoral roll management starting from elector registration, field verification of electors, decision support system for Electoral registration officers and for providing extensive integrated value-added services. All 29 States and 7 UTs are sharing common infrastructure at the National Level. UNPER (Unified National Photo Electoral Roll) is a common database for all States and UTs with data of more than 94 crore electors.
15. National Grievance Service Portal (NGSP): The Election Commission has developed a National Grievance Service Portal (NGSP). This system is developed in such a manner that in addition to providing redress to the complaints of the Citizens, Electors, Political Parties, Candidates, Media and Election Officials at National, State and District levels, it also serves as a common interface for providing services through a common interface. The application provides a single interface for handling complaints by the Election officials. All Electoral Officers, District Election Officers, CEO and ECI Officials are part of the system. Thus, issues are directly assigned to the respective user upon registration. The citizen can use this service using https://voters.eci.gov.in
16.  Election Seizure Management System (ESMS): In order to ensure inducement-free elections, the Election Commission of India has embedded technology into the monitoring process through the Election Seizure Monitoring System (ESMS) Mobile App which is proving to be a catalyst, as it brought a wide array of Central and State enforcement agencies together for better coordination and intelligence sharing. ESMS Mobile App is being used to digitize data for intercepted/Seized items (Cash/Liquor/Drugs/ Precious Metal/ Freebies/Other Items) direct from field. This enables stakeholders to automate desired reports in the required format, avoid duplicate data entry by Agencies and analyze received data at the CEO Level.
17. Integrated Election Expenditure Monitoring System (IEMS): Integrated Election Expenditure Monitoring System (IEMS) is a user-friendly, secure online platform which enables Political Parties to submit online prescribed documents like Contribution report (From 24A), Annual Audit Account, Election Expenditure. Key features for IEMS are as follows:

• Digitize details of contribution received and submit online
• Real-time compliance status on Dashboard
• Capture Mandatory Info/ Validations/Verification to increase data     quality
• Bulk import feature to quickly upload data through Excel format
• Email/ SMS based alerts / acknowledgements to increase compliance

· Aadhaar based e-Sign

18. Election Planning Portal: The Election Planning Portal is the new initiative taken by the Election Commission of India to provide a digital platform to the election management process. This portal will be accessed by the CEOs of all the States and UTs, Planning division and zonal divisions in ECI. This portal has various features that cover almost all-important aspects related to vacancy management, bye-elections, election scheduler, holiday management, security management etc. This application has a well-informative dashboard that provides a quick snapshot of the electoral data to the CEOs and ECI users. This application uses an auto alert algorithm to intimate the CEOs about the plan and overdue activities of their state and parliamentary planner. The ECI user can also communicate with the state officials via SMS and mail using this portal.
19.  Media Voucher Online (https://timevoucher.eci.gov.in): The Election Commission of India's "Go Green" initiative is a commendable step towards a more environmentally responsible and efficient electoral system. By adopting digital vouchers, the Commission is demonstrating its commitment to sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and modernization. This initiative not only benefits the environment but also enhances the experience for political parties involved in the electoral process. It sets a positive example for other governmental bodies and organizations to follow, highlighting the importance of embracing digital solutions and eco-friendly practices in a rapidly changing world.
20. Observer Portal: Observer portal is an online portal for data management of all types of observers i.e. general observer, police observer and expenditure observes. The deployment schedule of the observer, report submission and many other activities are completed with the help of this portal. The observers also get multiple facilities like filling & submission of reports, notification from the commission, downloads of all the required documents and many more. Parallel to the web portal, a mobile app is also provided that includes all the features that are available in the web application.