Election Commission to hold two-day international conference on integrity in election

The Election Commission of India will host a two-day international conference in New Delhi where 17 countries will participate to deliberate on integrity in elections and the use of technology in polls. Through the conference, which will be held on January 23 and 24, India aims to share its knowledge and expertise in the election management with other democracies, said the Commission on Sunday.

The second international conference will have a total of 43 participants, including from six global organisations like the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

The participating countries include Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Chile, Croatia, Dominica, Fiji, Georgia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Mauritius, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines and Suriname. Representatives from a number of foreign missions situated in New Delhi are also expected to attend the conference.

The conference will be inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Rajiv Kumar. The concluding session will be chaired by Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey. Election Commissioner Arun Goel will chair the first technical session.

The Election Commission is leading the Cohort on Elections Integrity which was established as a follow up to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held virtually in December, 2021.

The first international conference of the Cohort was organised on October 31 and November 1 last year in New Delhi on the topic ‘Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ where nearly 50 representatives from the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of 11 countries participated.

‘Summit for Democracy’, was an initiative of the U.S. President and hosted in December 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the Leaders Plenary Session in December 2021.

As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy’ Year of Action, India through the EC, is leading the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ to share its knowledge, technical expertise and experiences with other democracies of the world. EC, as its lead, has proposed to also provide training and capacity building programmes to Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world and provide technical consultancy as per needs of other EMBs.

Following the Summit, a “Year of Action” was proposed with events and dialogues on themes related to Democracy. The Summit also developed two platforms – ‘Focal Groups’ and ‘Democracy Cohorts’ to facilitate participation in the Year of Action.