Our Methodology
How CivicRate ratings work — complete transparency
1. The CR Score Formula
Every leader's CivicRate Score (CR Score) is calculated from citizen ratings across 5 parameters:
CR Score = ((6 - Corruption) + Infrastructure + Safety + Governance + Development) / 5
Why is Corruption inverted? Higher corruption ratings mean more corruption (bad). We invert it so that a high CR Score always means better performance. A leader rated 5/5 on corruption (very corrupt) contributes only 1 to the formula, while 1/5 (not corrupt) contributes 5.
2. Rating Parameters
- Corruption Level (1 = Clean, 5 = Very Corrupt) — inverted in CR Score
- Infrastructure & Cleanliness (1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent)
- Safety & Security (1 = Unsafe, 5 = Very Safe)
- Governance & Administration (1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent)
- Development & Welfare (1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent)
3. Minimum Vote Threshold
CR Scores are only displayed publicly when a leader has received at least 10 verified votes. Below this threshold, a "Not enough votes" message is shown instead. This prevents small sample sizes from producing misleading scores.
Rankings require a minimum of 5 votes for inclusion.
4. Anti-Manipulation Measures
- One vote per person per leader: Identity fingerprinting (name + age hash) prevents duplicate voting
- Phone OTP verification: When enabled, ensures one vote per phone number
- Bot protection: Honeypot fields + timing checks + rate limiting prevent automated submissions
- IP rate limiting: Maximum submissions per IP per hour
- CSRF tokens: Prevent cross-site request forgery attacks
5. Data Sources
CivicRate uses three types of data:
- Citizen Ratings: Submitted by users through the platform (clearly labeled as opinions)
- Public Records: Scraped from official sources like MyNeta (ADR) and PRS India (clearly attributed)
- Election Data: From Election Commission of India records
6. Important Disclaimer
7. Open Questions?
If you have questions about our methodology, contact us at support@civicrate.in. We believe in complete transparency.