Cash for votes, a banner where none is allowed, campaigning inside the silence period, liquor distribution: these are reportable, and the Election Commission runs a channel built specifically for citizens to report them with evidence.
cVIGIL
cVIGIL is the Commission’s complaint app, live from the announcement of an election until polling. You photograph or record the violation in the app and submit it.
Two features make it work. The app takes geo-tagged media captured live, so a complaint cannot be built from an old photograph. And it operates to a 100-minute commitment: a Flying Squad is dispatched, field units are expected to reach the location within 15 minutes, the Returning Officer decides, and you are told the outcome.
In the 2024 general election the Commission reported over 4.24 lakh complaints through the app, with the large majority closed inside the 100-minute window.
What is worth reporting
- Money, liquor, gifts or coupons being distributed.
- Campaigning during the 48-hour silence period before polling closes.
- Posters, banners or vehicles without the required permission.
- Use of government vehicles, buildings or staff for campaigning.
- Speeches appealing on grounds of religion, caste or community.
- Intimidation of voters, or obstruction at a polling station.
Most of these are also breaches of the Model Code of Conduct, and the more serious ones are criminal offences under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 in their own right.
Reporting anonymously
cVIGIL allows anonymous complaints. You lose the status update, because there is nobody to send it to, and an anonymous report is harder to act on where a statement would be needed. Use it if identifying yourself is genuinely unsafe.
Other routes
- The national voter helpline, 1950.
- The Returning Officer for the constituency, or the District Election Officer.
- The state Chief Electoral Officer, for matters beyond one constituency.
- The police, where an offence is being committed in front of you.
Report accurately
A complaint is acted on by people with limited time during the busiest weeks of their working year. Give the location, the time and what you actually saw. Do not describe a conclusion you have inferred.
A false complaint wastes a Flying Squad that a genuine one needed.
What happens after you file
A complaint through cVIGIL is assigned automatically to the District Control Room and passed to a Flying Squad for the area. The squad verifies on the ground and reports back, and the Returning Officer decides whether the Model Code or the law has been breached.
You are told the outcome, not the enforcement action taken against the person. If the complaint is closed as unsubstantiated and you believe that is wrong, the District Election Officer is the next step.
Complaints are only accepted between the announcement of an election and the close of poll. Outside that window, use the helpline or the Returning Officer’s office.
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