• Election commission of India launched a mobile app called cVIGIL.
• A user-friendly and easy to operate Android application, requires an Android smartphone equipped with a camera, good internet connection and GPS access

It will be operational only where elections are announced. cVIGIL will allow anyone in the election-bound state to report violations of Model Code of Conduct.

• Citizens can immediately report on incidents of misconduct within minutes of having witnessed them and upload it on this app, without having to rush to the office of the returning officer to lodge a complaint.
• The automated location mapping will be done using Geographic Information System.
• After its successful submission through the app, the vigilant citizen gets a Unique ID to track and receive the follow up updates on her or his mobile and will get a unique id for each report for follow up updates.
• The identity of the complainant will be kept confidential.
• The app has inbuilt features to prevent its misuse. It will receive complaints only about Model Code of Conduct violations. The user will get 5 minutes to report an incident after having clicked a picture or a video.
• To prevent any misuse, the app will not allow uploading of the pre-recorded or old images and videos. The app will not facilitate saving of the photos or videos recorded using the ‘cVIGIL’ app into the phone gallery either.
• Further, the application will be active only in States where elections have been announced. The moment a citizen exits an election-bound State, the app will become inactive

Drawback in current practice:

• The complaints about violations of Model Code of Conduct often could not be followed instantly, leading to the violators escaping detection from the action squads.
• The lack of any documented evidence in the form of pictures or videos was seen as a hurdle in verifying a complaint.
• The absence of a robust response system to quickly and accurately identify the scene of occurrence of violations with the help of geographical location details hampered election officers’ ability to apprehend the violators
• The new app is expected to fill in all these gaps and create a fast-track complaint reception and redressal system. A significant step towards empowering of vigilant citizens and to hold political parties and politicians accountable.