People post photos of shoes on EC app

NEW DELHI: When the Election Commission of India (ECI) launched the CVIGIL mobile app last Sunday, it was meant to be an interface for citizens to highlight violations of the model mode of conduct (MCC). A week later, however, what they got mostly were pictures of shoes, ceiling fans and flowers. There were some genuine complaints, too, related to political banners and posters in public places.

The chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi has received 79 complaints on the app and at least 35 complaints have been verified and found to be genuine.

“Some of the posts, which we received, were rejected in the first stage itself as they were not related to mode code violations. People had uploaded all kinds of pictures — shoes, ceiling fans, flowers.... At least 15 such posts were received by us,” Ranbir Singh, CEO, Delhi, said.

Since the MCC came into force on Sunday evening, at least two complaints have been lodged with the police against political parties – one each against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – for holding meetings without the prior permission of the poll panel.

“While the complaint against the AAP was lodged with IP Estate police station, the complaint against the BJP was lodged with the Parliament Street police station. The complaints have been sent to returning officers concerned,” Singh said.

Special teams, comprising three senior officers in each team, are making the rounds and surprise checks are being conducted to monitor how the MCC is being enforced in the national capital. While on Wednesday at least six such teams were deployed, on Thursday at least nine teams were sent out.