Former President Pranab Mukherjee with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Friday. Praveen Khanna
Termed by former President Pranab Mukherjee as a “milestone” in making Indian democracy “more participative”, an app called ‘Neta’ was launched on Friday, to allow voters to rate and review their political representatives. Speaking at the launch of the app, developed by 27-year-old entrepreneur Pratham Mittal, Mukherjee said, “A good democracy cannot work without informed voters, good leaders and complete transparency and accountability.”
The launch, which took place at Mukherjee’s official residence at Rajaji Marg, also saw the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Election Commissioners S Y Quraishi and Nasim Zaidi, former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, former HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, former Home Minister Shivraj Patil, and MoS Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla.
“Feedback from people is of critical importance… It gives an opportunity of empirical evidence of gauging public mood and doing a course correction,” Mukherjee said. According to the app’s developers, “Neta app aims to create a deep impact on the political engagement in the country. Apart from the obvious ability to let people rate their MLAs and MPs, the app serves as a useful barometer to gauge voter sentiment at any given point of time, across each constituency. Neta also provides new leaders with an opportunity to showcase their popularity and catch the attention of political parties… Anyone interested in fighting an election can get featured on the app by gathering a 1,000 votes from their constituency.”
Kejriwal also praised the app, and said it would help people vote beyond “caste and religion”. “In a democracy like ours, there are many people who are unable to meet their representatives due to the size and scale involved. In such an atmosphere, this app will be able to offer voter feedback to representatives on their performance. It will also help parties gauge the performance of their leaders and help them decide which candidates to offer tickets to.”
But both he and Quraishi warned against the app falling prey to political bias. “I have no doubt that this is going to be a game changer in India’s politics. But just one word of caution. You will be tended and cajoled by political leaders to toe their line, and show them in a better light. Please resist the temptation and maintain your neutrality and non-partisanship,” said Quraishi.
“Over 1.5 crore verified voters have already rated or reviewed local leaders across 543 parliamentary constituencies and 4,120 Assembly constituencies on the app, within eight months. We are looking to have 100 million users before the 2019 polls,” said Mittal.