New Delhi: CEC Rajiv Kumar along with EC Anup Chandra Pandey inaugurate two-day international conference.

• The Election Commission of India is hosting a two day international conference on the theme ‘Role, Framework & Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ at New Delhi.
• Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey inaugurated a two-day international conference in New Delhi.
• The theme of the conference is ‘Role, Framework, and Capacity of Election Management Bodies.
• In his keynote address at the inaugural ceremony, the CEC said that free, fair, inclusive, accessible, and inducement-free elections being a cornerstone of a democratic polity, is a precondition to peace and developmental dividends.
• These threshold concepts embody the understanding that sovereignty belongs to and flows from people of a country.
• He added that inclusivity also means adjusting inequalities, especially for women, Persons with Disabilities, senior citizens, young voters, and marginalized populations.
• The Conference is organized by Election Commission of India under Cohort on Election Integrity led by ECI, which was established as a follow on to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held in December 2021.
• Mr Kumar while highlighting the idea of democracy in India said that democracy has always been a part of Indian ethos, a way of life. Diverse opinions, Dialogue, Discussions, accommodation, and non-aggression have been an intrinsic part of our culture.
• The CEC offered ECI’s expertise in Election Management to world democracies to take forward the Summit’s commitments to real outcomes.

Background:

• ‘Summit for Democracy’, was an initiative of US President and hosted in December 2021.
• The Prime Minister of India spoke at the Leaders Plenary Session on December 9, 2021. Following this Summit, a “Year of Action” was proposed with events and dialogues on themes related to Democracy and to host an in-person ‘Leaders’ Summit for Democracy’ subsequently.
• The Summit also developed two platforms – ‘Focal Groups’ and ‘Democracy Cohorts’ to facilitate participation in the Year of Action.
• As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy’ Year of Action, India through the ECI, is leading the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ to share its knowledge, technical expertise and experiences with other democracies of the world.
• ECI, 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.