Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday utilised the India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM) 2026 — which got underway here with the participation of delegates from 70 nations — as a forum to showcase the successful conduct of special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar, citing the zero appeals received after publication of the final electoral roll, and the subsequent assembly election that witnessed zero repolls.“Pure electoral roll, including each and every eligible elector as per law, is essential to strengthen democracy and all elections which will be held on the basis of that electoral roll. The second segment is the conduct of elections, which becomes a very challenging, logistical affair, because a large number of people have to obey and follow the electoral laws and the instructions issued by the EC,” Kumar said while highlighting how the Bihar election had delivered on both the fronts.Stating that the purpose of the IICDEM 2026 is to not only celebrate democracy but also understand the future path, challenges, the expectations of the electors and how to make the electoral process smoother, transparent, free and fair, the CEC explained to the foreign delegates, which included top representatives of 42 electoral management bodies and 27 ambassadors/High Commissioners, how Indian elections have become one of the largest exercises on the planet in terms of logistics, numbers and transparency. “More than a billion voters, (with) 640 million exercising their franchise at more than a million polling stations….and roughly. 1.8-2 crore people involved in the exercise, is a feat,” he underlined.Election commissioner SS Sandhu described the faith placed by citizens in electoral management bodies (EMBs) as precious, saying that it is the collective responsibility of EMBs to preserve it.Election commissioner Vivek Joshi said IICDEM-2026 brings together EMBs, researchers, students and practitioners who view elections from different angles, to brainstorm on all issues related to democracy and electoral management. Earlier, secretary general of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (international IDEA) Kevin Casas-Zamora welcomed India’s chairship of International IDEA, saying that India must share with the world how it has managed the odds to build a legacy of “free and fair elections, respect for the rule of law, tolerance, secularism, press freedom and all the things that make a democracy worth”.Recalling how recent elections across many countries witnessed political polarisation, illicit funding flows, online and offline aggression and digital misinformation, Casas-Zamora also raised concern over outright election denialism, with politicians from the US, Peru, Georgia, and Bangladesh “using spurious arguments to question credible results”. He said that 2024 saw 1.6 billion people casting ballots in 74 national elections, including India. “Yet, global electoral turnout that year was down nearly 10 percentage points when compared to 15 years before, while around 40% of elections suffered some form of dispute over their credibility,” he pointed out.Casas-Zamora however said elections had also helped reverse democratic backsliding in Poland, Senegal, Guatemala and Brazil. “Democracy can be restored as long as electoral routes for political change remain open,” he emphasised.Speaking on the theme of IICDEM 2026 — democracy for an inclusive, peaceful, resilient and sustainable world — DG IIIDEM Rakesh Verma said that it reflects a broad and multi-dimensional understanding of what democracy must deliver in the 21st century.The participants viewed glimpses from the upcoming docu-series, “India Decides” produced in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery.
