Mobile App to make GHMC electioneering easier

Hyderabad, Jan 16 (INN): Having failed to get the pensions for deserving widows and Old Age persons, a group of Hyderabad-based IT professionals came up with an App that would inspire and motivate politicians to help the poor in Greater Hyderabad.

"We have developed an innovative Mobile App "Mera Leader" which will help the contestants manage their elections effectively. The App has voter list of all 150 GHMC wards which can be categorized by age, religion and other parameters. The contestants profile, manifesto, campaign calendar and videos will also be incorporated in the App. It will also pin-point top 500 houses with more number of voters in each ward," said Syed Khalid, an IT professional who designed the App in collaboration with Shukoor Ahmed, CEO, V-Empower, Inc, who runs the website www. myghmc.com while addressing a press conference today.

According to Khalid, the App will give perfect age-wise categorisation of voters which would make contestants plan their approach towards each category. For instance, if there are more number of voters aged above 60 years in a ward, then the contestants could approach them with the promise of getting them pensions. The App also deals with Volunteer Management wherein a contestant can track the status of task assigned to a particular volunteer on real time basis.

"Our intention was to reduce the cost of electioneering. Almost all candidates spend huge amounts, much more than the expenditure limits set by the Election Commission, to run a successful campaign. More than focussing on approaching the voters with the manifesto, many candidates end up managing their volunteers throughout the campaign. This App will make their campaign simpler. It also provides Social Media Collaboration, Secure In-built Group Chat and there will be no limit for number of users," said Khalid.

Khalid said almost all the candidates run their election campaign in chaos. Right from securing a party ticket till the polling is over, a candidate faces several hurdles. Depending upon their budget, they hire number of volunteers, print party literature and make lot of avoidable spending on food, transport and other activities which are not directly linked to voters. "Our App is designed in such a way that a candidate will be able to tackle all tasks including Voters Slips Confirmation and Polling Day Management with total ease. He/she will also have access to all status reports on their finger tips.

"Initially we had collected data of thousands of widows and Old Age persons who are not getting monthly pension. Instead of pursuing those cases on individual basis, we thought of developing this App so that we could involve all the contestants of GHMC elections in addressing this issue. The contestants will have to pay a nominal amount of Rs. 15,000 to get this App. But the entire amount will be refunded, if the contestant does the community service for 300 hours in the next one year. All the contestants will be provided with data of deserving pensioners and they would be requested to follow up those cases, irrespective of whether or not they win the elections. Once they render 300 hours of service, we will refund the amount to them" Khalid said.

To get this App, interested candidates may register on www.myghmc.com or contact on details provided in the website, said Shukoor Ahmed.