The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a set of mobile apps, and other online initiatives related to electoral processes which can be used by candidates and political parties to submit mandatory filings/statements or request certain permissions.

Voters can use the applications to submit grievances and to obtain electoral-related data available to them. The ECI states that these initiatives are aimed at creating an online central database of constituents; easing functioning at polling booths; and to monitor work allocation for officers on duty.

Here’s a list of the initiatives:

–Samadhan—A public grievance redressal system which accepts complaints through online, toll free number 1950, email, mobile app, fax, post, and sms. All complaints shall be processed online and an Android App has also been developed for this.

–Suvidha— A single window system for both candidates and political parties to apply for permissions before conducting meetings, rallies, etc, this can also be done through the Android app. The ECI has also issued directions to give permissions within 24 hours once candidates/parties makes request.

–Sugam—A vehicle management system that helps issue and track requisition of vehicles being used for election and campaigning purposes. This captures vehicle details along with address, mobile numbers and bank details of owner & driver; it also tracks vehicles that are transferred from one district to another district for official use. An Android app is also available for this.

After going through the Android Play Store we found that each ECI Android application has been developed for separate state or constituency and until now West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam have got their own set of apps. It is not very clear how the ECI will keep track of data emerging from the cluster of different Android apps segregated state-wise. Probably it’s a better idea to list all states in a single Android app, while prompting the user to select a state/constituency for each initiative. All the applications have been listed under the developer named ‘Chief Electoral Officer’ and a total of 11 apps have been indexed under it.

Other new Mobile applications/portals for the upcoming elections:

-Matdata is an Android app for voters’ facilitation for search in Electoral Roll, Location of Polling Station etc.

-Matdaan is another Android app for Poll day monitoring at all polling stations.

-ELECOM is an Android app for dispersing election related news or announcements.

-SMS Poll Monitoring for collecting information through SMS from Presiding Officer / Sector Officer. Under this, the ECI also has introduced an ‘E-counting’ Android App for viewing counting trends/results.

-Genesys & EVM Randomization is an online web application meant for collecting a candidate’s information related to nomination, EVM Randomization- First and Second randomization of EVMs.

-Expenditure Monitoring & Candidate affidavit e-file is an online monitoring and tracking system for keeping a check on election expenditure accounts lodged by the candidates. Candidates are also directed to submit their ‘Abstract Statement of Expenditure’ and other affidavits online which will be later verified by a Returning Officer.

ECI in numbers: By August last year, the ECI had around 815 million eligible voters in India under its regulation. The ECI is responsible for all national and state elections. Around 3.5 billion votes are being handled every 5 years or statistically speaking, 20 lakh votes being handled every day.

National Voter Service Portal: In February last year, the ECI launched the National Voter Service Portal (NVSP) to create a single platform for voters to access all services provided by it. Voters were able to apply online for new voter card registrations, and also apply for corrections in existing voter cards, through this website.

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Edit: The story has been rewritten for better clarity and brevity.