Assembly poll: Election Commission award for Bhagat, Aulakh

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 20

Election Commission of India has selected officials in charge of operations for excellent work and innovation during the legislative Assembly elections in the state last year. They would be awarded in New Delhi on the occasion of National Voters Day on January 25. Three officials from Punjab have been selected for the award. Two of them are then District Electoral Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat and Commissioner of Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh, who were in charge of operations in the district. The third official is the then District Electoral Officer, SBS Nagar, Vipul Ujjwal.

The awardees have also been asked to send 1,000 reports about their contribution, which would be published as part of the inaugural issue of Voice India.

Bhagat and Ujjwal have been selected in the IT category for the award while Aulakh has been selected under the 'innovation' category.

Speaking about the award, Ravi Bhagat, now Chief Administrator of PUDA, said it was good that the efforts had been recognised by the commission. Bhagat had pioneered and developed software with the assistance of a city-based IT firm, 01 Synergy, in developing an RO Net software as well as ECI 360, which comprises several mobile apps for giving on-the-fly information as well as real-time communication at different levels. The district administration had carried out a massive awareness campaign, including creation of a democracy wall and an awareness van. Free pickup facility for the disabled on the voting day had also been arranged.

Getting the award in the 'innovation' category, Jatinder Singh Aulakh, now IG Headquarters, said they had used the 'Security Net' software for reporting all information to the Election Commission on a daily basis by 7 am during the days when the code of conducts was in place. The GPS enabled vehicles tracked the movement of all election and surveillance vehicles, and the cameras sent real-time pictures. "In fact, there is a population of 35 lakh under Ludhiana Police Commissionerate that also comprised several sensitive booths. But there was not a single incident of violence on the day of elections," he said.

Seeing the utility and effectiveness of these apps and software, used both for election operations as well security, these were also used by the Election Commission during the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat recently.