Chandigarh, March 13 – Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Mr. Rajeev Ranjan said that eligible citizens who are 18 years old or above as on January 1, 2019 and have not got their vote made, should get it done to ensure their participation in the democratic set up. For this, the eligible voter can apply latest by April 12.

While stating this here today, Mr. Ranjan said that it is very easy for eligible citizens to get their vote made. They can fill Form-6 online or in offline mode. He said that if Form-6 is filled after April 12 then it would be considered after completion of election process. He said that the Commission has also launched helpline number 1950 through which citizens can get any information related to their vote, polling station, status of form, assembly constituency area, BLO or District Electoral Officer. He said that the Commission has given special facility to students to get their vote made. Those students who are living in hostels or as tenants and they do not have any proof of residence, they can get their vote made with the recommendation of the head of their institution.

Mr. Ranjan said that for the first time, the Commission has launched PwD mobile app to provide maximum facilities to disabled voters. As many as 85,000 disabled voters have so far got themselves registered on this app. Through this app, the disabled voters would be provided facility of vehicle from their residence to polling station besides ensuring facilities of ramp, drinking water, lights, wheel chair and ballot paper/braille voter slip. PwD mobile app can be downloaded on android mobile phone from playstore. He said that the Commission has been running Voter Verification and Information Programme (VVIP) from last two months in view of the General Elections to Lok Sabha 2019.

He said that this time better facilities have been provided to service voters such as soldiers and para-military personnel. Earlier, ballots were sent to service voters through post and sometimes it does not reach the service voter or sometimes the place of posting of service voter was changed. Therefore, this year ballot paper would be sent online so that they could exercise their right to vote.

The Chief Electoral Officer said that the candidates or political parties would have to obtain certificate from Media Certification and Monitoring Committee before getting publicity material printed or broadcasted. Apart from this, they would also have to obtain certificate for sending bulk SMS. He said that this time the candidates would also have to give information of their social media accounts. The candidates would also have to obtain certificate for posting any publicity material on social media accounts. He said that the Commission has already interacted with the representatives of social media websites and they would not post any publicity material with the certificate.

The Commission has also launched cVigil app through which the residents can also file complaints to Commission regarding violation of Model Code of Conduct. People can download the app from playstore and they can upload picture or a two-minute video. This photo or video would include the GPS location. The concerned team would reach the spot within 20 minutes after the complaint is registered and the complaint would be resolved within 100 minutes. If the complaint wants then he or she can file the complaint as anonymous complainant and his or her identity would be kept secret by the Commission, he added.