'Election Mitra': Andaman Cops Develop Chatbot For Effective Policing During Polls

Two young officers stationed at a remote district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) have brought pride to the entire Union Territory police department with their in-house chatbot named 'Election Mitra'.

Developed by North and Middle Andaman SP Geetanjali Khandelwal (IPS) and Rangat SDPO Rahul L Nair (IPS), 'Election Mitra' has been trained on all handbooks of the Election Commission of India (ECI) pertaining to the roles and responsibilities of police.

It provides prompt and accurate responses to user enquiries by referencing authentic sources, an official said.

This initiative underscores the emphasis placed by DGP Devesh Chandra Srivastva on the development and utilisation of state-of-the-art technology in everyday policing, the official added.

Geetanjali Khandelwal, a former army captain and a 2015-batch AGMUT cadre IPS officer, is renowned not only as an excellent team leader in catching poachers in deep jungles and mid-sea, but also for her involvement in various social initiatives.

These include providing free coaching to school students, offering self-defence training to girls, and conducting self-sustainable workshops for rural women.

Rahul L Nair (2021 batch AGMUT cadre), currently serving as the SDPO at Rangat in North and Middle Andaman, was also part of Geetanjali Khandelwal's team and played a key role in the creation of 'Election Mitra'.

Devesh Srivastva said, "This chatbot was born out of limited resources and extensive discussions with various stakeholders involved in the election process. There was a need to ensure that all police personnel, right up to the last man, must have ready and all-time access to authentic information put out by the ECI, in a user-friendly and interactive manner." The 'Election Mitra' is easily accessible by scanning a QR Code distributed throughout the rank and file of the Andaman and Nicobar Police department and the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) deployed for election duties in the Islands.

In addition to the chatbot, another technological initiative has been launched - geotagging and colour coding of all polling stations, vulnerable pockets, locations of repeat offenders and history sheeters, and other useful/relevant information.

"These geotagged maps are available on the platform of Google Maps and have been made available through scanning of QR Code to all the field police personnel and CAPFs deployed for election duties. The launch of these initiatives underscores Andaman and Nicobar Police's unwavering commitment to embracing innovation and leveraging technology to ensure a free, fair, and peaceful election in the archipelago," added the DGP. 

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