Election Commission vows to take action on plaints within 100 minutes

Hyderabad: State joint chief electoral officer Ravi Kiran Tirumala on Thursday said the Election Commission would take action within 100 minutes after a complaint is registered on the C-VIGIL app. The Election Commission was taking all possible measures to curb money and liquor flow, paid news, and hate speeches, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, Mr Kiran said and cautioned that stringent action is being initiated against those violating the model code of conduct.

Mr Kiran said the aim of the election code is to provide a level–playing field to all the political parties and candidates during the elections. The JCEO also stated that flying squad teams and static surveillance teams were working across the state to apprehend those violating the code. In addition to such teams, he urged the citizens to download and use the C-VIGIL app to report violations of the model code of conduct. "The ECI is regularly monitoring complaints on the C-VIGIL App and teams are being dispatched within 100 minutes to take action. Alternatively, people can call on on the toll-free number 1950 and report any violations that they come across," he said.

Mr said informed that ECI had laid down detailed guidelines on the MCC during elections and any violation of the same by political parties, candidates, or media, would attract appropriate action as per the procedure. The MCC came into force with the release of the Lok Sabha Election schedule on 10th March.

Referring to the use of social media by political parties and candidates, to influence voters, Mr Kiran said that the ECI had put in place monitoring committees at district and state levels to check the abuse of social media. He said that as a part of SVEEP activities on voter awareness, mock polling was conducted in all the polling booths in Telangana under “Chunav Patasala”.