20 global bodies witness world’s largest election

More than 65 representatives from 20 election management bodies from across the world witnessed 17th Lok Sabha Elections as part of the Election Commission's Election Visitors' Programme

May 12, 2019

Addressing the visitors, the Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Sunil Arora said that the ECI was committed to ensure a robust election

India currently has more than 910 million voters for whom ECI organizes over 1 million polling stations with the latest technologies

The 2019 general election is being held in seven phases to elect 543 MPs, apart from elections to the State Legislatures of four states

Earlier this year, India has signed two deals with the electoral bodies of Namibia Panama on cooperation in electoral management

Representatives from 20 international election management bodies have witnessed the ongoing general elections to the 17th Lok Sabha (lower house of India’s Parliament) as part of the Election Commission of India (ECI) Election Visitors Programme. Over 65 delegates attended from Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fiji, Georgia, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Malaysia, Myanmar, Romania, Russia, Suriname, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka as well as the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). Addressing the visitors, the Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Sunil Arora said that the ECI was committed to ensure a robust elections.

India, with a total population of more than 1.3 billion, is the world’s largest democracy. The first election of 1952 had involved 170 million electorates, spread across 200,000 polling stations. This has now risen to more than 910 million voters for whom ECI organizes over 1 million polling stations. The youth-heavy electorate makes the election process even more critical. The ECI has employed the latest technologies to execute the world’s largest electoral process. The 2019 general election is being held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 to elect 543 members of Parliament. Alongside the general polls, the ECI is also holding elections to the State Legislatures of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

Highlighting the role of the ECI team in meeting the challenges of smoothly conducting elections in the world’s largest democracy, Mr Arora introduced the core ECI team to the foreign delegates. India has long assisted international partners in capacity building and executions of electoral process. Earlier this year, the Government entered into two separate agreements with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) as well as with the Electoral Tribunal of Panama (ETP) on cooperation in electoral management and administration. The collaborations cover exchange of knowledge and experience in organizational and technical development of electoral process, institutional strengthening and training of personnel.

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