Why in the News?

Recently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has developed in-house software named ‘ENCORE’ designed for efficient candidate and election management.

About ‘ENCORE’:

• The Election Commission of India has designed in-house software for complete Candidate and election management through ‘ENCORE’ which stands for Enabling Communications on Real-time Environment.
• This provides a seamless facility for Returning Officers to process candidate nomination, affidavit, Voter turnout, counting, results and data management.
• The ENCORE counting application is an end-to-end application for returning officers to digitize the votes polled, tabulate the round-wise data and then take out various statutory reports of counting.
• An additional application, the ENCORE Scrutiny Application, allows Returning Officers to scrutinize online nominations submitted by candidates.
• This process involves verifying and marking the status of nominations as Accepted, Rejected, or Withdrawn, facilitating the creation of the final list of contesting candidates and symbol assignment.
• The ECI offers an online portal for candidate nomination and affidavit submission.
• Candidates can create accounts, complete nomination forms, submit security deposits, and plan their visits to the Returning Officer through this portal.
• The Candidate Affidavit portal is designed to display information about a candidate's financial assets and liabilities, offering transparency in candidates' financial disclosures.
• The ENCORE Nodal App serves as a platform for various government departments, including fire, education, police, environment, and CPWD, to issue 'no objection' certificates.
• These certificates are required before granting permission for political parties or candidates to hold rallies, road shows, and meetings, ensuring that all necessary clearances are obtained before public events.