Andhra SEC can’t use ‘eWatch’ app until Feb 17 as HC adjourns case

Amaravati, Feb 9 : In a major setback to Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, the high court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on ‘eWatch’, an election monitoring app, until February 17, rendering it useless until then.
The court said the SEC cannot use the app until it procures a security certificate, and directed the SEC to reply to the queries raised by the Andhra Pradesh Technology Services (APTS), the nodal agency for conducting security audit and issuing a security certificate, without which no app can come into play.
The court took up the PILs filed against eWatch, which were heard by Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice Praveen Kumar.
C. Sumon, representing the state government, informed the court that based on the SEC’s request, APTS conducted preliminary tests and sent a report about the security flaws and concerns detected in eWatch.
The APTS highlighted that allegedly the source code of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Department was used in the development of eWatch.
Sumon apprised the court that the SEC has not allegedly produced any document to show that the social welfare department gave permission to use its source code.