In five days, EC helpline attended over 23K calls
New Delhi: From Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) information to polling station details to name search in the voter list, in five days, over 23,000 calls were received on the helpline number set up by the Election Commission of India (ECI). More than 76 per cent of calls were information related. The data accessed by Millennium Post revealed that from February 1 to February 5, a total of 23,252 calls - around 4,600 per day on average - were received on the helpline number 1950. Out of these, 17,698 calls were related to information related to the upcoming assembly polls in the Capital.
"As many as 7,092 calls were related to name search in the voter list, 3,664 calls were application status-related and about 2,310 were procedure-related. As many as 1,956 calls were related to various electoral forms, including Forms 6, 6A,7, 8, 8A of EC," the data showed, adding that 2,676 calls were made with respect to other information related to the ECI.
The data further revealed that the helpline number received 5,355 irrelevant calls. "In 3,632 calls, there was no response from the callers, as many as 1,245 calls dropped halfway and 478 were irrelevant," the data showed. The data further revealed that as many as 179 complaint calls ranging from issues like non-delivery of EPIC (124 calls) to disposal of electoral forms (22) to others.
According to an election official, there are more than 70 staffers who monitored these calls. "We attend to every helpline number calls," the official said. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi, Ranbir Singh told Millennium Post that the helpline number is a one-stop-shop for all electoral services. "Anyone who wants to get any information, feedback, suggestion or wants to register complaints can call 1950," he said.
CEO further added that they vigorously monitor the calls and make sure that complaints are resolved at the earliest. "Even after the complaint is resolved and closed, our officer makes a phone call to the complainant. If the complainant says he or she is not satisfied, the complaint is reopened," he said, adding that the helpline number is great empowerment and information tool.
In cVIGIL applications, the ECI received 10,828 complaints of which 10,254 were genuine. According to the poll regulator, cVIGIL provides time-stamped evidentiary proof of the Model Code of Conduct/Expenditure Violation by empowering every citizen to click a photo or video using his or her smartphone. The application is based on GIS technology and this unique feature of auto location provides fairly correct information which can be relied upon by flying squads to navigate to the right spot of incidence and take prompt action. "cVIGIL empowers the citizen to participate in the enforcement of Model Code of Conduct (MCC)," CEO Singh said.
