ECI Delegation Visits SA and Mauritius, Urges Indian Community Members to Register as Overseas Voters

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 22^nd April. An Election Commission of India delegation led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, Sushil Chandra visited South Africa and Mauritius from April 9-19, 2022.

During this visit, a series of meetings were held with the Election Commission of South Africa and Mauritius as well as interactions with the large NRI community in the two countries.

Both Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are also MOU partners with ECI.

The three countries share a relationship which is fundamental, unique and rooted in the collective experiences and cumulative strength of their people.

During interaction with the members of the Indian community, CEC urged them to register as overseas voters as the present numbers are abysmally low.

CEC Chandra also shared with the members that extension of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) facility to overseas voters is being contemplated.

A major highlight of the visit was the rare occasion of a tripartite meeting between ECI, Glen Mashinini, Chairperson, Electoral Commission of South Africa and Jonghyun Choe, Secretary General, Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB) held at Pretoria on 12th April 2022.

India is currently the Chair of AWEB, the largest conglomeration of 118 EMBs of the world and South Africa is the Vice Chair.

AWEB provides a unique platform for exchange of knowledge and information between its members.

During the meeting, it was acknowledged that this umbrella organization had EMBs with a lot of experience and expertise which could assist and advise those EMBs who were looking for further development and upgradation of their systems.

It was felt that the focus must now be on increasing membership and enhancing the sense of belonging of the members. More avenues must be explored so that the members can interact and meet more often.

During the meeting, CEC Sushil Chandra expressed profound appreciation for the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa for organizing this meeting.

He said that South Africa has made big strides in democracy and would be hosting the next General Assembly of AWEB in October 2022. India has a very intense and active association with AWEB. Both India and South Africa are the founding members of this organization.

He stated that coming to the land which made Mahatma out of Gandhiji and the land of Nelson Mandela was a veritable pilgrimage for him.

Chandra recapitulated the numerous activities and initiatives taken by ECI for strengthening cooperation among AWEB members by way of organizing webinars, International Election Visitor Programme events and also coming out with several international publications.

Thereafter, he shared India’s experience of conducting 11 state assembly elections and various by-elections during the unprecedented time of COVID-19 pandemic and the new protocols devised by ECI for conducting safe elections from the perspective of voters, polling personnel and polling stations.

While highlighting the need for AWEB to reinvent itself, CEC Chandra stressed on three areas for further strengthening of this institution.

First, AWEB must endeavour to come out with standard protocols for various aspects of election management which will be known as AWEB global standards and will help EMBs to work towards achieving these goals.

Two, increasing the interaction between members through regional thematic summits, celebrating significant dates in the AWEB calendar like its foundation day on the pattern of India’s National Voters’ Day and developing an annual activities calendar for AWEB.

Three, intensifying sharing of best practices, training and capacity building. He offered that ECI would be happy to organize more training programs including customized programmes for AWEB members at India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM).

During his visit, CEC also paid homage to Mahatma Gandhiji on 15th April 2022 at the Constitution Hill, a former prison complex now converted into a museum, in Johannesburg.  He also visited the Gandhi-Mandela Exhibition Centre at the Constitution Hill.

CEC met with Mohd. Irfan Abdool Rahman, Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius at Port Louis on 18th April 2022.  During this meeting, he stated that the two countries shared a filial bond of brotherhood, ancestry, kinship and affection.

During the visit to the two countries, a briefing cum interaction was organized with the NRI community at Cape Town on 10th April; Johannesburg on 12th April and at Port Louis on 18th April 2022.  CEC Sushil Chandra shared the Indian experience of conducting elections with the members of the diaspora.

CEC Chandra also highlighted the new electoral reforms undertaken in the past few months which included four qualifying dates in a year for registration of eligible citizens as electors as compared to once a year earlier, linking of Electoral Roll and Aadhar data and extension of postal ballot facility to new categories of voters i.e. senior citizens aged 80 plus years, PWDs and Covid affected persons.