CEC Sunil Arora Assumes Chairmanship of FEMBoSA for 2020

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Sunil Arora on January 24, 2020, assumed Chairmanship of The Forum of the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2020. The outgoing Chair of FEMBoSA K M Nurul Huda,  CEC of Bangladesh, handed over the Logo of FEMBoSA to Sunil Arora at the 10th Annual Meeting of  FEMBoSA  held in New Delhi on January 24.

In his address, Nurul Huda stated that in keeping with the objectives of the Forum, members have been sharing experiences and skills and taking steps to enhance cooperation with other EMBs.  EMB Bangladesh presented the Stewardship Report on the activities of FEMBoSA members during the last year.

Accepting the responsibility as Chairperson of the Forum, Arora thanked the delegates for the trust and confidence reposed in the Election Commission of India (ECI). Arora said “The democratic scaffold and superstructure can be enacted and strengthened on the principle that the political power is validated by the will of the people. In democracy, power is won and legitimised only by regular elections based on the universal, equal, direct and freely expressed suffrage.”

Strong participatory and inclusive democracies are better able to ensure good governance and empowerment of all the citizens, he said.  Arora added that for Capacity Building, the Election Commission of India had established the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in June 2011, according to a PIB release.

FEMBoSA was established at the 3rd Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries held in New Delhi in May, 2012. With its eight members, FEMBoSA represents a very large part of the democratic world and is an active regional association of EMBs.  Annual FEMBoSA meeting is held by rotation among the members.  The last (9th) annual meeting of FEMBoSA was held in Dhaka in September 2018.