International Virtual Election Visitors Programme organized by Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India is to organize a three-day International Virtual Election Visitors Programme. The programme is meant for foreign election organizations.

Highlights

Over 40 countries participated in the programme. This included Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as well. Apart from these countries the international organizations such as International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), Association of World Election Bodies and International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) also participated in the programme.

Objective of the Programme

It is a flagship programme of Election Commission of India. The main objective of conducting the programme is to provide unique overview of SVEEP programme. Also, ECI shared its knowledge and technology being implemented in conducting elections. The ECI provided a virtual tour to the polling stations in Bihar to the participating countries.

What is SVEEP?

The programme focuses on voter education and spreads awareness about voter literacy. The main goal of the programme is to build participatory democracy by encouraging the citizens to make an informed decision during elections. The programme is designed based on the cultural, socio-economic and demographic profile of the country.

Why Bihar?

Earlier, the programme was launched during 2014 parliamentary elections. This time Bihar has been chosen because the state has one of the largest electorates in the world. There are more than 72 million electorates. Thus, the ongoing election process, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic will provide best opportunity to share about the best practices and experience with the world.

Election Commission of India

The commission had only one Election Commissioner. However, after the Election commissioner amendment act, 1989, two more commissioners were appointed. The Chief election commissioner and the election commissioners are appointed by the President of India. They have a tenure of six years and retirement age of 65 years, whichever is first.

The Election commissioners are removed from the office only through process of removal that is similar to that of the Supreme court of India.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020