Election Commission of India is hosting the Third
Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies of SAARC Countries
here from 30 April to 2 May, 2012. The Conference brings together the
Chief Election Commissioners and senior election officials of the region
on a common platform to share experience of best practices in election
administration and management. The Conference will build on the
initiatives and exchanges discussed at the previous Conferences.
Discussions will also focus on the final shape of the Forum of SAARC
Election Management Bodies, which has been approved in principle at the
last Conference held in Islamabad. The conference will be inaugurated by
Dr S Y Quraishi, Chief Election Commissioner of India.
Some of the important topics to be discussed are: Empowerment of
Election Management Bodies; Inclusive elections (gender issues,
marginalized sections, minorities etc.), Voters Education, Controlling
Money Power in Elections, Technology for cost-effective elections etc.
The idea of holding such Conferences took concrete shape at the 37th
Session of the Standing Committee of SAARC, held at Thimphu, in April,
2010. Bangladesh hosted the first Conference in May 2010, where initial
discussions on creating a Forum of SAARC EMBs were also held.
The second Conference was held in Islamabad by the Election Commission
of Pakistan. It focussed on experience sharing, and also discussed the
draft charter of the proposed Forum. It adopted a resolution to
establish the Forum. A number of initiatives on mutual exchanges and
training activities were discussed, and bilateral arrangements were tied
up between member Commissions. During the Conference, Chief Election
Commissioner of India offered to host the 3rd Conference in New Delhi,
which was accepted.
Election Commission of India works in close collaboration with the
Election Management Bodies of South Asian Countries. In the recent weeks
officials for the Election Commission of Afghanistan, Maldives and
Bhutan received training at the India International Institute of
Democracy and Election management IIIDEM.
Laying the Foundation Stone of the IIIDEM new Campus in Dwarka
Coinciding with the SAARC Heads of EMBs conference, Foundation Stone of
new campus of India International Institute of Democracy and Election
Management (IIIDEM) will be laid by Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, Chief Election
Commissioner of India, on Monday, at Dwarka, New Delhi in the presence
of Election Commissioners Shri V. S. Sampath and Shri H.S. Brahma and
Heads of Election Management Bodies of SAARC countries. They include
Mr.Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Chairman, Independent Election Commission,
Afghanistan, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, Chief Election Commissioner,
Bangladesh, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, Chief Election Commissioner, Bhutan,
Mr. Neel Kantha Upreti, Chief Election Commissioner, Nepal, Mr.Ibrahim
Waheed, Commissioner, Election Commission, Maldives, Mr. Justice (R )
Muhammad R. Essani, Member, Election Commission Pakistan and Mr. Mahinda
Deshapriya, Commissioner of Elections, Sri Lanka. Shri Tejendra Khanna,
Hon. Lt. Governor of Delhi will be the Chief Guest at the event.
ECI plans to develop IIIDEM as an advanced resource centre of learning,
research, training and extension of participatory democracy and election
management. Presently, IIIDEM operates from the premises of the
election Commission of India in New Delhi.
The funds to the tune of Rs 48 crores have been approved for 2011-12 and 2012-13 for construction of the new campus.
At present, training courses of IIIDEM are being conducted in the
interim premises of this Institute at Election Commission of India.
IIIDEM, since its launch in June 2011 has hosted 32 courses for more
than 500 election officials and other stakeholders in all aspects of
Election management. Training courses are already lined up at IIIDEM in
the coming weeks for the upcoming Summary Revision and General Elections
in some of the states.
Besides the national training programmes, IIIDEM has also conducted five
courses for Kenyan, Maldivian, Bhutanese and Afghanistan election
officials and Nigerian Election Commissioners. There are requests for
such courses from Nepal and Fiji. Over the ten months of its existence,
IIIDEM has become a hub for national and international training
courses, seminars and workshops. Standard training modules for
international participants have already been developed by a renowned
team of Indian and International experts.
