650 complaints of Model Code violations registered through C-Vigil App over Bihar elections, bypolls: Election Commission

New Delhi: As many as 650 complaints of violation of Model Code of Conduct have been filed between October 6 and 21 using the C-Vigil App in the Bihar elections and the bypolls in seven states, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.

Of these, an official statement said, 649 have been disposed of and 612 or 94% of complaints were resolved within 100 minutes.

Besides, around Rs 71.32 crore worth of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other freebies have been seized till October 21 after the announcement of election on October 6 through a coordinated approach involving multi-enforcement agencies across different states and union territories.

The EC has deployed 824 flying squads across Bihar to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes.

The poll body has also operationalised a round-the-clock complaint monitoring system, including a Call Centre number 1950 in which complaints can be lodged by any person or party, with District Electoral Officers or Returning Officers. Citizens and parties can also report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on the ECINET

In a separate statement, the EC said no party, candidate, organisation or person shall publish any advertisement in the print media on the poll day and one day prior to the poll day, unless the contents are pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at the state or district level.

For Bihar, the restricted days are November 5 and 6 (for Phase-I) and November 10 and 11 (for Phase-II).

Applicants seeking pre-certification for political advertisements in print media must apply to the MCMC not later than two days prior to the proposed date of publication of the advertisement. To facilitate timely pre-certification, MCMC at the State/District levels have been activated to examine and pre-certify such advertisements, and ensure decisions are made expeditiously, it said.