Chief Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey inaugurated a two day international conference on the theme ‘Role, Framework & Capacity of Election Management Bodies’.
The conference is organized by Election Commission of India at New Delhi under Cohort on Election Integrity led by ECI, which was established as a follow on to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held in December, 2021.
In his keynote address at the inaugural ceremony, Rajiv Kumar said that free, fair, inclusive, accessible and inducement free elections being a cornerstone of democratic polity, is a precondition to the 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. Rajiv 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, non-aggression have been intrinsic part of our culture. He added that people’s faith in the results of elections is the most fundamental precept of a healthy democracy.
While stressing on the significance of the theme of the conference, he said that ‘Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ are the core building block for ‘elections integrity’ as it covers both the foundational and the functional aspects of any electoral democracy. CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar offered ECI’s expertise in Election Management to world democracies to take forward the Summit’s commitments to real outcomes.
Speaking on the pressing challenges before the Election Management Bodies in today’s context, Rajiv Kumar stressed on the intersection of EMBs functioning with the social media platforms. He added that social media platforms do self-proclaim that they have content display policies but they also have the “algorithm power” in play.
“More early or deeper red flagging of fake news based on known modus operandi and genres, is not an unfair expectation from the EMBs”, he underscored. He added that such a proactive approach to counter fake news will facilitate credible electoral outcomes that will help preserve the ‘freedoms’, which the social media platforms require to thrive.
