EC to hold two-day international conference on integrity in election
Recently the Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted a two-day International Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology & Elections Integrity’ in New Delhi.
The Cohort on Election Integrity-
- The second conference in the series of three conferences organized by the Election Commission of India under the leadership of the ECI was held in New Delhi under the “Cohort on ‘Elections Integrity'”.
- Explain that The Cohort on Election Integrity has been established under the ‘Summit for Democracy-Year of Action Program’, which has been established by America.
The Summit for Democracy is focused on the following three pillars –
- Strengthening democracy and opposing authoritarianism.
- Tackling corruption.
- To promote respect for human rights.
As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy, India is leading the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ through the ECI. Under this, ECI is sharing its knowledge and technical expertise with other democracies around the world.
The ECI has outlined the following three broad work areas on the use of technology for Election Management Bodies (EMBs):
- Facilitating registration for voters,
- Facilitating political parties and candidates, and
- Election Management and Logistics/Security
Threats from technology in elections:
- Cyber security risks remain when polling data is transmitted,
- There is a danger of creation of deep-fake narrative in the elections held in India and around the world etc. Deep learning techniques are used to create fake videos/images in Deep-fakes.
Use of technology by ECI-
- C-vigil application; Through this, citizens can directly report violations of the Election Code of Conduct.
- Electronic Voting Machine (EVM): An electronic device for recording votes.
- Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) or Verified Paper Record (VPR): Through this, the voter’s vote is verified using the ballotless voting system.
Election Commission of India:
- The Election Commission of India, also known as the Election Commission, is an autonomous constitutional body that administers the federal and state election processes in India.
- The Election Commission was established on January 25, 1950 as per the constitution. The Secretariat of the Commission is in New Delhi.
- It conducts elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Assemblies, President and Vice President in the country.
- It has nothing to do with elections to panchayats and municipalities in the states. For this, the Constitution of India makes provision for a separate State Election Commission.
- Part 15 of the Indian Constitution deals with elections, in which it has been said to establish a commission for the conduct of elections.
- Articles 324 to 329 of the Constitution deal with the powers, functions, tenure, eligibility, etc., of the Election Commission and the members.
Source – PIB
