AP Panchayat Elections 2021: State High Court halts usage of e-watch app till February 9

AP Panchayat Elections 2021: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday has issued key directions on the e-watch app brought in for the AP SEC panchayat elections. The court ordered that the app not be implemented until the 9th of this month. The public prosecutor said he had not received a security certificate for the app, which could take up to five more days hence the court adjourned the case till May 9.

Earlier, the Election Commission has launched the e-Watch app on the 3rd of this month. In this backdrop, lunch motion petition was filed in the High Court against the e-watch app brought by SEC. The court, which examined the case, refused to allow lunch motion and said it would hold a hearing on Friday. The government mentioned in the petition that the e-watch app is a completely private app and said that the SEC is using a new app replacing the previous one. The government has sought an injunction order to stop the app.

The app was launched by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar on the 3rd of this month. It is learnt that the Election Commissioner has recently announced that the app will be specially designed to make the elections transparent. A call center has also been set up to receive and resolve complaints from the public regarding elections. However, the government is against the app.