India elected Chair of Asian elections association

India has been unanimously elected as the new Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024, informed the Election Commission of India.

As per ECI, the decision was taken at the recently held meeting of the Executive Board and General Assembly at Manila, Philippines. Commission on Elections, Manila was the current chair of AAEA. The new member of the Executive Board now includes Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan and the Philippines.

ECI's 3-member delegation headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Vyas, along with Manipur Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajesh Agrawal and CEO Rajasthan Praveen Gupta, attended the Executive Board meeting in Manila and presented the work plan for 2022-23 as also futuristic activities for 2023-24 to the Executive Board.

A presentation on 'Gender Issues in Elections' was also given, highlighting various concerted and targeted interventions by India to break socio-political barriers in electoral and political processes for inclusive and participative elections, said the ECI in its statement.

According to ECI, the mission of the Association of Asian Election Authorities is to provide 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.

Officials from many AAEA member countries have been regularly attending International Training Programmes conducted by India International Institute for Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) from time to time. Since 2019, more than 250 officials from AAEA member countries have attended these programmes. IIIDEM also conducts customised capacity development training programs for specific AAEA member countries. 50 officials of the Bangladesh Election Commission were trained during 2021-22.

(ANI)