75 international delegates from election management bodies (EMBs) of 23 countries have arrived in India to witness the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Election Commission of India invited them to India to foster a culture of transparency and reiterate its commitment to high standards of electoral practices amidst the democratic nations, CEC Rajiv Kumar said. Additionally, media representatives from Bhutan and Israel have also arrived.
The delegates will witness the world’s largest election as part of the International Election Visitors’ Programme (IEVP), which was inaugurated in Delhi on Sunday in the presence of CEC Rajiv Kumar and ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. The program seeks to familiarise foreign Election Management Bodies (EMBs) with the nuances of India’s electoral system as well as the best practices used by the largest democracy in the world. Among the 75 delegates, over ten are chairmen and the chief equivalent of chief election commissioners of the different countries.
“This is in line with our established policy of disclosing, working from the position of strength that we have nothing to hide. So we are inviting them,” Chief Election Commissioner Kumar said.
Sharing details of the event, the Election Commission posted on Twitter, “CEC Rajiv Kumar addresses over 75 international delegates from 23 EMBs at the inaugural session of International Election Visitors Prog held today at New Delhi. Delegates given an overview of various facets of gigantic election exercise in world’s largest democracy!”
75 Delegates from 23 Countries along with the media representatives of Bhutan and Israel will be visiting 6 states to witness first hand the conduct of Indian elections #ChunavKaParv in the coming phase. #DeshKaGarv #Elections2024#GE2024 pic.twitter.com/fUHD4RPdF0
— Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) May 5, 2024
The 23 countries from where the delegates have come are Bhutan, Mongolia, Australia, Madagascar, Fiji, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Moldova, Tunisia, Seychelles, Cambodia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Chile, Uzbekistan, Maldives, Papua New Guinea and Namibia. The delegates will visit 6 states to witness first-hand the conduct of Indian elections in the coming phase, the third phase.
The delegates will split into groups to visit six states—Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh to observe polls and related preparedness in various constituencies. The programme will end on the 9th of May, 2024. The program will familiarise foreign EMB delegates with the nuances of India’s electoral system as well as the best practices in Indian election.
CEC Kumar said that more delegates may visit during the subsequent phases of the elections.
Rajiv Kumar while addressing the delegates, remarked that the contribution of the Indian electoral space and work done by the Election Commission of India, holds a significant portion of the world democratic space. In terms of process and capacity it generates, what can be legitimately called, ‘democratic surpluses’ is of a huge significance in the otherwise growing concerns of shrinkage of or decline of democratic spaces worldwide.
Kumar further said that the Indian elections space is unique, as neither electoral registration is compulsory nor voting is mandatory. Therefore, the ECI is required to operate in an entirely persuasive space, inviting the citizens to volunteer to become part of electoral roll and, thereafter, through systematic voter awareness programme, to motivate them to exercise their franchise. He said “It would be axiomatic to say that the credibility of the processes that we undertake is validated through the sheer turnout at elections and the near saturation of electoral rolls in terms of Elector-population ratio.”
Commenting on the scale of the electoral exercise in India, he said that a 970 million strong electorate will be welcomed by over 15 million polling personnel at over 1 million Polling Stations spread across the country. Shri Kumar added that diversity of the nation’s electorate can be witnessed in its full expression by the visiting delegates at the Polling Stations. He added that India is a country of festivals and invited the delegates to experience the festival of democracy first-hand.
On the sidelines of the event, the Commission also held bilateral interactions with the Chief Election Commissioners of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Nepal along with their delegation.
Earlier in the day, delegates were briefed on various aspects of Indian General Elections 2024 including EVM-VVPAT, IT initiatives, role of media and social media. The briefing session chaired by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Dharmendra Sharma included an overview of Elections by R.K. Gupta, Deputy Election Commissioner followed by a presentation on EVM-VVPAT by Nitesh Kumar, Sr. Deputy Election Commissioner. A presentation on the IT Initiatives of the ECI by eeta Verma, Director General (IT) and Media and social media by Anuj Chandak, Joint Director (Media) was part of the session.
