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India elected Association of Asian Election Authorities Chair

India assumes new role as Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024

The Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) has a new Chair, with India having been elected to the new position. The AAEA’s mission towards providing a non-partisan forum in the Asian region for sharing experiences and best practices among election authorities to discuss and act upon ways to promote open and transparent elections with the objective of supporting good governance and democracy is expected to receive a shot in the arm with India taking over the new role.

The election has been unanimous, and India assuming the new role as the new Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024 came about at the recent meeting of the Executive Board and General Assembly in Manila, Philippines. India takes over from the Commission on Elections, Manila, who was until now the chair of AAEA. The new Executive Board includes Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan and Philippines.

India delegation makes presentation on ‘Gender Issues in Elections’

A three-member delegation from the Election Commission of India, led by Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Vyas, and comprising Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur Rajesh Agrawl and Chief Electoral Officer of Rajasthan Praveen Gupta, attended the Executive Board meeting at Manila and presented the work plan for 2022-23 as also futuristic activities for 2023-24 to the Executive Board.

The panel also made a presentation on ‘Gender Issues in Elections’ which spoke in detail about concerted and targeted interventions by India aimed at breaking the socio-political barriers in electoral and political processes for inclusive and participative elections.

India’s stature in the AAEA had received a fillip of late with officials from many member countries attending international training programmes conducted by the India International Institute for Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) on a regular basis. It has been revealed that more than 250 officials from AAEA member countries have attended these programmes since year 2019. The IIIDEM is also responsible for organising customised capacity development training programmes for specific AAEA member countries. During the 2021-22 period, as many as 50 officials from the Bangladesh Election Commission had been imparted training.

Association of Asian Election Authorities came into being in 1998

The various programmes spearheaded by the Election Commission of India (ECI) have already been taken note of. The highly professional events have received the stamp of approval from the AAEA, and its provided delegates have been regularly participating in the International Election Visitors Programme. Besides, as many as 62 officials from 12 AAEA members participated in the third International Virtual Election Visitors Programme (IEVP) hosted by ECI during Assembly Elections in 2022.

The Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) was established in 1998, in pursuance of the resolution passed by participants of the Symposium on Asian Elections in the Twenty First Century held in 1997 at Manila. ECI is a founder member EMB of the AAEA and also served on the Executive Board of the AAEA as the Vice Chair during 2011-13 and Chair during 2014-16.

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Sanjeev Ramachandran

A journalist with 23 years of experience, Sanjeev has worked with reputed media houses such as Business Standard, The Ne More »

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