Parliamentary delegation from Sweden visits Election Commission of India

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : A ten member delegation of MPs of the Committee on the Constitution in Riksdag, the Parliament of Sweden, visited the Election Commission of India (ECI) on February 26, 2020.

The delegation was led by Ms. Karin Enstrom, MP, and   Chair of the Committee on the Constitution in Riksdag, accompanied by two Parliamentary officials, and two diplomats from the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi.  The delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, and the Election Commissioners : Ashok Lavasa and  Sushil Chandra.

Chief Election Commissioner of India Sunil Arora welcomed the Swedish delegation.  In his address, he stated that the Commission is committed to hold free, fair, transparent, peaceful, inclusive, accessible, ethical and participative elections. He gave an overview of the last national elections held in India. He added that using modern tools of Information and Communication Technology several innovative measures were taken up during the last Lok Sabha elections and recently held state elections to make electoral process hassle free and voter friendly.

He said that special attention was paid to make elections accessible for persons with disabilities and senior citizens.  Arora also briefed the visiting parliamentarians and officials about the international cooperation programme of the ECI including setting up of India A-WEB (Association of world Election Bodies) Centre in New Delhi for documentation, research and training with the objective of  sharing the best practices and capacity building of the 115-member Association. He mentioned that ECI is looking forward to working with Swedish Election Authority in future, according to a PIB release.

Ashok Lavasa, Election Commissioner, mentioned that ECI has taken several steps to spread the progress of democracy. He said that the gender gap in the voting population, which was 16% in the past, had almost been eliminated in the General Election 2019.

Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner, briefed the delegates about the steps taken by ECI to curb use of money power in elections.

Ms. Karin Enstrom, MP and   Chair of the Committee on the Constitution in Riksdag, thanked the Commission for the warm welcome accorded to the Swedish delegation.  She gave an overview of the Swedish electoral system wherein simultaneous elections are held for municipal, county and national elections for Riksdag. She further stated that the delegation was impressed with the magnitude of Indian elections and the way this work is done by the ECI.

Umesh Sinha, Secretary General, ECI, made a presentation about the structure and functioning of the ECI in managing the largest election exercise in the world. A short film on Parliamentary Election-2019 was also screened for the Swedish delegation.  This was followed by a Question and Answer session wherein queries from the delegates relating to secrecy of voting, voting by overseas electors, facilities for voting by differently-abled persons, inclusive electoral participation, curbing money power etc. were answered.