ECI hosts IEVP for over 150 delegates from 32 countries

The Election Commission of India on Monday hosted the virtual International Election Visitors Programme (IEVP) 2022 for Election Management Bodies from nearly 32 Countries and four international organizations.

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday hosted the virtual International Election Visitors Programme (IEVP) 2022 for Election Management Bodies (EMBs) from nearly 32 Countries and four international organisations.

Addressing the International delegates, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India and Chairperson, Sushil Chandra pointed out that despite the COVID-19 pandemic posing several logistical challenges in conducting elections, India has yet again conducted elections in five States with 183.4 million electors across 690 Assembly Constituencies, making India's electoral system more inclusive, accessible and participative.

CEC also highlighted the key initiatives taken up by the poll-body for facilitating senior citizens, PwD, and women voters and appreciated the hard work of field officers in quelling the barriers faced by various categories of voters. He also mentioned that over 11 million new voters were added for the ongoing elections in the five states.

Praising the initiatives of the poll body such as the extension of postal ballot facility to senior citizens and PwD voters, CEC highlighted, "Poll body has taken ECI literally at the doorstep of voters and consistent efforts have led to the enthusiastic participation of women voters in these elections as compared to their male counterparts. For instance in Uttarakhand, female voter turnout was 67.2% as compared to 62.6% male voter turnout; Goa recorded 80.96% female turnout while male turnout was 78.19%."

Reiterating the poll body's sincere efforts in ensuring COVID social distancing norms such as virtual mode of campaigning for a larger part of the period, stress on total vaccination status in poll-bound states, and regular interactions with health officials, CEC pointed out that "a total of over 2.15 lakh polling stations were set up in five states which has been an increase of nearly 31,000 polling stations from previous elections of 2017."

Speaking at the event, Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar underlined that the Commission’s aim was to work with three broad objectives, "Covid safe elections, hassle-free comfortable voting experience, and maximum voter participation". He also mentioned that ECI reached out to nearly 5.3lakhs service voters, 13 lakh PwD voters and a large number of centenarian voters.

While addressing the meeting, EC Anup Chandra Pandey highlighted the major milestones including the adoption of the Model Code of Conduct, system of deputing Election Observers, Electronic Voting Machines -Voter verifiable paper audit trail (EVM-VVPAT) and Information & Communication Technology in the glorious journey of Indian elections in the last 70 years for ensuring free, fair, transparent and ethical elections.

While giving an overview of the Election Commission of India’s association with Election Management Bodies across the world, Umesh Sinha, Secretary General and Head of India A-WEB Centre at ECI said that IEVP Programme provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and sharing of experiences, best practices and skills in the field of Electoral Management with over 150 Delegates from nearly 32 countries across the world including Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Croatia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia including others.