Reports Suggest Election Commission's 'Mark VIP' Feature is Giving Preferential Treatment to Select Citizens
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in 16 states and three union territories, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced a new feature called ‘Mark VIP’ in its BLO app – to categorise citizens as ‘general’ and ‘VIP’ voters – and by extension, allowed the VIPs a preferential treatment, while ordinary people queue up to protect their rights.
The BLO app is used by booth level officers (BLOs) for updating polling stations, facilities etc. Hindustan Times reported, citing officials at Delhi’s chief electoral officer’s (CEO’s) office, the app was updated on July 30 with the ‘Mark VIP’ feature.
The officials told the daily that the order came “directly from the commission” and their office cannot make any changes to the software.
Also read: Amid SIR Hearings Across Delhi, Many Voters Say They Were Unaware of Notices
As verified through Apple’s Appstore, the update – “Mark VIP elector related changes” – was recorded on July 31. The same could not be verified on Android.
The Reporters’ Collective reported that officers had been directed, “often informally on WhatsApp”, to mark ministers and their families, celebrities, judges, advocates, bureaucrats, IAS, IPS, media persons, social workers and others as “VIPs”.
Notably, at the time of this update, the Delhi SIR was in the enumeration phase, along with four other states, while it was in the claims and objections phase in 10 other states, including Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
In Delhi, the update also came at a time when there was panic that the SIR could end up removing thousands of voters from the list.
More than 33 lakh electors were sent notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms, with headlines including prominent names like BJP stalwart L.K. Advani, former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, among others.
Also read: Supreme Court Says ECI's 'Logical Discrepancy' Notices In Delhi SIR Appear to be 'Mechanical'
Most of these “VIP” names include voters in the New Delhi Assembly constituency, who received notices for being "unmapped with last SIR" in Delhi in 2002. However, the app update brought in a special module to identify the VIPs and give them a way out from standing in queues to prove their identity and right to vote, unlike ordinary citizens.
The update, The Reporters’ Collective report suggests, ensured that no VIP is left behind, while leaving the remaining citizens to the existing rigour.
Deccan Herald reported that the details of most of the prominent voters in Delhi have now been validated through field verification and their names reserved for inclusion in the final electoral roll, to be published on November 4.
Chief Minister Gupta’s notice, in fact, was resolved within a few hours without a hearing.
The Representation of Peoples Act, 1950, does not explicitly create a class of citizens granting them differential electoral privileges, although the ECI in its manual extends some special treatment to elected representatives, judges, holders of declared offices and personalities from fields of arts, culture, among others.
Also read: What Happens If CEC Gyanesh Kumar Goes?
However, per the Collective’s report, neither the ECI manual nor the law permits the poll body and its officials to guarantee VIPs get on voter lists, without putting them through the same verification and tests that ordinary citizens are put to.
For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.
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