Chandigarh, Mar 16 – The Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Mr. Rajeev Ranjan said that technology will be used extensively in the upcoming General Elections to Lok Sabha - 2019 leaving absolutely no scope for the contesting candidates to violate model code of conduct and devalue or under reporting of their election expenditure account.

Mr. Ranjan was presiding over a meeting of District Electoral Officers of six districts namely Gurugram, Mahendragarh, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Rewari and Rohtak, and officials associated with election duty for the General Election to Lok Sabha-2019 at Gurugram today.

He said that cVigil App is being used for the first time in the election through which any person can upload photos or videos of any candidate or political party violating code of conduct or committing any other irregularities. Complaints received on the cVigil app will be attended by the concerned authorities within 100 minutes. Apart from this, it will lead to preparing strong evidence which can be presented in court against the candidates violating model code of conduct. He said that in addition to the cVigil app, the vehicles of Sector Supervisors will be GPS enabled and wherever they go, their location can be seen. This time, the Sector Supervisors have been given the responsibility to change the faulty VVPAT machines and the Electronic Voting Machines besides they will also check the polling stations and ensure that all polling parties have arrived safely at their booth a day before polling. During the voting, they will keep a check in their allotted area and wherever they will notice any violation, they will immediately click photographs or make videos and send it to the Election Commission of India. They will also send voting percentage reports every hour. With the use of technology, conviction will be easier in the cases registered during elections and it will be easy to register candidates' election expenditure. He directed all the officials to strictly maintain the election expenditure of candidates and use shadow register from day one to start maintaining election expenditure of each candidate.

Mr. Ranjan said that the unnecessary expenditure in elections can be reduced by strictly putting a check on election expenditure. He directed the officials that if any candidate takes a vehicle permit, they should start maintaining expenditure of that vehicle from the first day, whether it is being used or not.

The Chief Electoral Officer also directed the officers to adopt measures to increase the voting percentage and said that Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activities could be implemented for it. He said that a comprehensive plan should be adopted to increase the voting percentage and eligible candidates, who have not yet made their vote, can be made aware that they can apply for preparing their vote latest by April 12 up to 3 p.m. This application can also be done online at www.nvsp.in. To publicize this, hoardings should be installed at public places and Electoral Literacy Clubs should be made active in colleges and universities. He said that a certificate should be obtained from the principals of each college that there is no student above the age of 18 years in his or her college who does not have his vote. Giving example, he said that wall hangings or hoardings can be installed at four metro stations, three rapid metro stations and 10 large buildings in Gurugram.

While referring to the service voters, he said that when he took charge in the Election Department, the number of service voters was 72,000, which has now increased to 94,000. He wants to take this figure to over one lakh and in this direction, training would be imparted to Record Officers in Ambala Cantonment on Monday. It was informed in the meeting that the soldiers serving in the army and their families can apply online on the service voter portal to get their vote made. Their application should be forwarded through the Record Officers, else it will not be accepted. The application should have signature and stamp of the Record Officer, he added.

In the meeting, Mr. Ranjan also reviewed the functioning of Voter Helpline Number 1950 and dialed it three times from different mobile phones to check the operator's response. Gurugram District Electoral Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Amit Khatri said that nearly 30,000 calls have so far been received on this helpline number.

Mr. Ranjan also emphasized on increasing the gender ratio among the voters and said that despite the concerted efforts during last two months, the ratio of voters in the state has increased from 865 to 866. In order to improve the voter sex ratio, he said that letters should be sent through the school students to their parents that the women in their families must get their vote made. Similarly, assistance of Self-Help Groups, girl students studying in government colleges, Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers should be sought to spread awareness among women to get their vote made and to cast their vote.

He said that if any demand from person with disability is received for making arrangement of wheel chair, the District Administration should fulfil the demand. For this, the person with disability would have to inform the District Administration in advance.

In this meeting, Mr. Ranjan also reviewed the action taken on the cases filed during the last elections in the presence of senior IPS officer Mr. Hanif Qureshi, who has been appointed nodal officer by the Police Department for the upcoming election.