Scrap ‘e-Watch’ app, demands YSRC

VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress on Wednesday lodged a complaint with State Election Commission (SEC) objecting to the release of e-watch application without following proper norms.

Party state general secretary Lella Appireddy said that the Commission has released a mobile application named “e-watch” a technological platform to ensure free and fair elections. He said that it was both surprising and shocking that SEC has developed an election surveillance app without following the appropriate government regulations and it had not been developed by any State or Central government organization or by any government empanelled organization, which is violation of the citizens’ right to free and fair elections.

Appireddy said that it was appalling that the Commission is resorting to clandestine acts. He pointed out that during MPTC, ZPTC elections that were scheduled to take place last year, Nigha, a SEC-approved election vigilance application was given an overwhelming thumbs-up by citizens. He recalled that during the 2019 General Elections, the Centre-owned C-Vigil application was put to use in the state. He said he did not understand the rationale to have a new app. He demanded an immediate response from the SEC with regard to concerns about safety and security measures of huge volumes of data when it is hosted in private servers. He wanted to know who would take responsibility in case of any data breach. He sought immediate scrapping of “e-watch” application.