Technology plays a big role in elections. Electoral rolls have been digitised; polling booths are mapped through GPS software; voting takes place through EVMs, and the aggregation of votes is an electronic process. Now, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is trying to engage citizens in the electioneering process much before voting through a smartphone app developed by it called cVIGIL. It is a great leap of faith by the ECI to give an opportunity to the common citizens to supervise the methods deployed by candidates and political parties to woo voters. Established a day before the Constitution was adopted in 1950, the ECI has come a long way in fulfilling its mandate to conduct free, fair and participative elections. The late TN Seshan may have given the ECI a place in popular public discourse in the 1990s and created awareness on the constitutional powers vested in the ECI. Yet, it is the institutional and individual empowerment through digital technology that has given real teeth to the ECI.The ECI has sought to curb malpractices through strict compliance of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which has the consensus of political parties. The local muscle power is counterbalanced by the deployment of central para-military forces; flying squads are positioned to follow leads of misuse of money or power, check posts at jurisdictional boundaries of taluks, districts and states curb the free flow of money and liquor, and expenses by candidates and the political parties are examined. These are administrative measures, and citizens doubt their efficacy. Through cVIGIL, the ECI is roping in citizens to report any infringement of MCC. cVIGIL is watchfulness by citizens. A real-life incident would illustrate the use of this tool; it is one of the 56 such events reported by citizens during the Kerala assembly elections, 2021. Anita (name changed) notices a loud political gathering in her locality beyond 10 pm. She believes such a gathering is not permitted. She photo records the meeting and sends it through the app on her smartphone. The flying squad, dispatched by the control room at the DM’s office, affirms Anita’s video. A violation of MCC is registered against the candidate and political party. Anita’s complaint could not be ignored. The permanent digital imprint ensures that any deviation from the set norms of action could lead to administrative action against the erring official; the App records the time and the recipient’s details. The default setting of the app ensures Anita’s anonymity. cVIGIL has caught the fancy of citizens in Kerala. A more educated electorate, a wider penetration of the smartphone network among voters, mobilisation of the masses through party cadres, and a more decentralised polity are the possible reasons for cVIGIL’s ready acceptability in Kerala. The potential of cVIGIL in bringing out violations of the law can be gauged from the data (shown below ) from the Kerala assembly elections, 2021. Sl. No. Nature of the complaint; Number of complaints Found correct on inquiry and action taken; Percentage of complaints found correct:
1] Campaigning during ban period 306; 248; 81%2] Campaigning within 200m of election booth 496 ;496; 100%3] Display of firearms or intimidation 385 ;346; 89.9%4 ] Property defacement 15720; 15574; 99%5] Posters without permission 130430; 128125; 98.2%In a robust democracy, citizen participation in the electoral process goes beyond voting and it is articulated in many types of engagement. Anita is a conscientious citizen, willing to expend energy and time to report an MCC infringement. She has no desire to confront the wrongdoers. She believes in the fairness of the state enforcement machinery to act on her lead. The ECI is confident that as more violators are brought to book through cVIGIL, many more Anitas would come forward to report malpractices, and cVIGIL would become an effective tool to ensure fair and more transparent elections. (Pushpinder Puniha is a Special Expenditure Observer; HR Srinivasa is Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar)
