The Election Commission of India (ECI) is organizing a three-day International Virtual Election Visitors Programme. The virtual programme is meant for Foreign Election Management Bodies and Organizations. The conference started on November 5, 2020. It is being organised in the context of the ongoing Bihar Legislative Assembly Elections.
Highlights
- Earlier, the ECI had organised the International Election Visitor Programmes during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, elections of a few State Assemblies in February-March 2017 and Lok Sabha Elections of 2019.
- The keynote address at the inaugural session was delivered by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.
Why this time has been chosen?
Bihar has an electorate of over 72 million. It is one of the largest electorate in the world to vote so far in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the ongoing assembly election of Bihar provides an opportunity to share the best practices and experience with the world about the conduct of the poll process during the pandemic.
Participants
Delegates from over 40 countries including- Afghanistan, Australia, Malawi, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Moldova, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Zambia are participating in the conference. Apart from that, three international organizations namely, International IDEA, International Foundation of Electoral Systems and Association of World Election Bodies have also been invited to participate.
About the Programme
Today an online briefing session was held to provide to the participants an overview of the large canvas of Indian electoral process. It also briefed about the new initiatives taken by Election Commission on voter facilitation, transparency and accessibility of electoral system.
