Cachar district administration unfriends Poll Friend

March 12: From the receiving of poll materials by the polling team to the deposit of the same after poll, the entire activity was monitored by an app. During the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, an app named Poll Friend kept track of the activities of the polling team like the time of arrival at the Polling Station, every hourly percentage of votes cast, safe return of EVM after the end of poll etc.

This app was made by the software experts of NIT Silchar under the instruction of District Administration, Cachar. Even the Election Commission of India praised this app. S. Viswanathan, the then Deputy Commissioner of Cachar endeavoured to make this app more user friendly and forwarded the app to the Election Commission of India (ECI) so that it can be used throughout the country.

However, it could not be ascertained as to what extent the ECI moved forward in this aspect. But the new Deputy Commissioner Laya Madduri is not interested to use this app during the Lok Sabha Election of 2019. She said that the app is good but there are a number of problems associated with it.

District Information Officer Shanti Singh informed that on the day of poll, the Presiding Officers remain extremely busy. It’s not possible for them to take out the mobile and type the texts every hourly. Moreover, mobile network too is not available in all the places. So the Presiding Officers become tensed when they are outside network coverage.

Mr. Singh also informed that the State Election Commission has decided to introduce an app for the Sector Officers. Instead of the Presiding Officers, the task of conveying the reports to the Returning Officer will be vested to the Sector Officers. So is the new app the modern version of Poll Friend app? However, this could not be clarified by Cachar District administration.

Laya Madduri, District Commissioner Cachar, however, laid stress on 2 apps. One is an app for the citizens which can be accessed by the general public for registering any complaint or grievance related to polls. Another app is for the political parties. Through this app they can seek permission for meetings, rally and the like.

But what about the poll friend app which was unique to Cachar district? Probably it has gone to rest forever just after one election.