US Under Secretary Uzra Zeya meets CEC Rajiv Kumar; India to lead ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’

New Delhi, May 18 (Agency) A four-member US delegation led by Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, called on the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey at Nirvachan Sadan today. As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy’, a decision has been taken to request India to lead the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ and share its knowledge, technical expertise and experiences with other democracies of the world. ECI has been requested to also provide training and capacity building programmes to Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world and provide technical consultancy as per needs of other EMBs, the ECI said in a statement.

During the meeting, CEC Rajiv Kumar and EC Anup Chandra Pandey shared the experiences of ECI and explained how ECI has not only been conducting free, fair, peaceful and credible elections but also making these inclusive and accessible. They shared the new initiatives taken by ECI, use of new information technology as a great enabler for not only voters at large but also for all stakeholders like political parties, candidates and other members of the society, making all election related processes and voter services seamless, hassle-free and participative. Uzra appreciated the role of ECI in modernizing the election services and making the elections more inclusive and accessible.

She said India can take a leading role in sharing its experiences and expertise in providing capacity building programmes to other EMBs to strengthen the election system. In the Cohort led by India, New Zealand, Finland and the European Union have expressed interest to partner and other interested democracies could also join in. Several programs for cooperation and sharing experiences for capacity building are on the anvil. Based on the above a specific strategy and Action Plan will be prepared in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, the statement said. Today’s discussions were held in the backdrop of ‘Summit for Democracy’ which started as a two-day virtual event, hosted by the United States in December 2021 and is now a year-long activity with events and dialogues on themes related to democracy with participating countries.