CEC Rajiv Kumar expresses concern over 'fake narratives' during elections

The CEC speaking after inaugurating a two-day international conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology & Elections Integrity’ in New Delhi, said that a disturbing trend of deep fake narratives has become a common feature in elections worldwide, where disruptive elements attempt to alter public perception and mislead the user by repeatedly presenting the deep fakes as “fact”.

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Monday expressed concern over “fake narratives”. He said that it has become a “common feature in elections”. The CEC also stressed the impact of new media especially social media on the intersection of technology with the Election Management Bodies (EMBs’) functioning.

The CEC was speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of a two-day international conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology & Elections Integrity’ in New Delhi. The conference which is the second in a series of three conferences to be organized by the Election Commission of India is being organized in New Delhi under Cohort on Election Integrity initiative led by ECI.

Sixteen countries including Heads/Dy Heads of nine EMBs or Election Authorities are participating. Emphasizing the worrying trend of “fake news/narratives in India and the world” and how it could obstruct the Election Process, CEC said "a disturbing trend of deep fake narratives have become a common feature in elections worldwide, where disruptive elements attempt to alter public perception and mislead the user by repetitively presenting the deep fakes as “fact”.

Recalling his keynote address from the previous conference, the CEC noted that social media intermediaries through their algorithm power and AI, have the capability to detect deep fakes proactively, especially in jurisdictions like India, where electoral cycles are definite and well-announced. The CEC used the enforcement agencies analogy to put the onus on social media platforms to detect deep fakes proactively.

The CEC highlighted the prominence of technology in ensuring 'inclusivity' and 'transparency' in elections and thus further building up trust towards the democratic electoral exercise.

The success of any EMB depends on deploying appropriate technology in three broad verticals - ease of registration for voters, facilitating political parties and candidates and thirdly for election management and ogistics/security, CEC said.

He also apprised the representatives during the meeting of the initiates taken by the poll panel in the technological domain and highlighted that cVigil, Saksham App for PwDs and use of battery-operated non-networked EVMs in a million plus polling stations which has empowered voters and has ensured prompt and credible electoral outcomes election after election.

The first session on the ‘Technology for Election Administration’ was co-chaired by the Election Commissioner of India Arun Goel and the Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius Mohammad Irfan Abdool Rahman. The session had presentations from Election Authorities in Armenia, Australia, Croatia and Georgia.

During his address, Goel highlighted various technology initiatives being used by ECI for managing a database of over 94.5 crore electors and to facilitate election-related decision making like rationalization of polling stations; technology for facilitating political parties/candidates and apps like cVigil to empower voters.

During the conference, a booklet ‘Global Initiatives in the Use of Technology in Elections’ prepared by ECI was also unveiled. The booklet is a compilation of the best technology practices of EMBs worldwide.