Tamil Nadu Citizen Poll Watch

TNCEO launch of mobile app to encourage citizens to report poll complaints

Office of Chief Electoral Officer Tamil Nadu released a pilot application to encourage citizens to report poll related complaints using a smartphone and web portal without any fear, where even name and mobile number capturing was kept optional.

Currently relaunched for 2015 bi-elections

Background: In the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2014, Microsoft Azure was used to provision cloud environment for hosting Tamil Nadu Citizen Poll Watch 2014 – ASP.Net Web application built on Windows Server 2012 with SQL Server 2012 backend for powering citizen mobile application services developed by Amia Infotech, as part of its voluntary commitment towards free and fair elections.

Pilot launch received complaints from all 32 districts in Tamil Nadu across its 8 options viz. Money Distribution, Gift or Coupons Distribution, Liquor Distribution, Posters or Banners without permission, Display of Firearms, Vehicle or convoy without permission, Paid News and Others categories within a short span of time.

Application was launched with BSNL SMS gateway integration to 32 DEO's registered Mobile Numbers, to facilitate near instant SMS notification of complaints to relevant DEO, where Control Room referred complaints to Flying Squad over phone and updated web portal on field responses. The app was a great success and in coming elections it is likely to get more popular.