ECI, State Commissioners meet to boost electoral process coordination

The Election Commission of India (ECI) held a National Round Table Conference with State Election Commissioners (SECs) in New Delhi. Chaired by CEC Gyanesh Kumar, the meet focused on strengthening coordination and harmonizing electoral roll management.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) organised the National Round Table Conference of ECI and State Election Commissioners (SECs) at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

According to the Election Commission release, the Round Table Conference was chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, in the presence of Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

CEC Stresses Institutional Coordination and Harmonisation

In his inaugural address, CEC Gyanesh Kumar underscored the importance of strengthening institutional coordination between the ECI and SECs within their respective constitutional mandates. He emphasised the need for harmonised approaches in electoral roll management, adoption of technology, and sharing of best practices to further enhance the integrity and efficiency of electoral processes in the country.

On Special Intensive Revision and Transparency

Speaking on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process at the conference, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said, "This process was started in Bihar. Completed flawlessly with zero appeals. Currently underway in 12 states, out of which 11 states' electoral rolls have been published. This hall collectively, all of us together, must salute the hard work which is being done or has been done by our booth level officers, AEROs, EROs, DOs and CEOs, including all the national and state political parties, their agents, the booth level agents, the district level representatives, state level representatives, and the national level," he said. "We started meeting all the national and state political parties on our own initiative. Nearly 4,000 meetings were held at the sub-divisional level, that is, at the constituency level, by the EROs, with 28,000 political party representatives participating in it... Apart from electoral roles, making them pure and making them accessible, making them easy to identify a voter who should be a citizen of India, the Commission also stresses the transparency and ease of voting. All of you will be very happy to know that during the international conference, a polling booth was set up here by the Election Commission officials. And all the 70 countries, they went there, they underwent the polling process. When they met me, they all showed the ink on their fingers... They have invited our teams to go to their countries, and they will also be coming here to adopt whatever is possible according to their electoral laws," he added.

Call for Mutual Learning and Trust

Election Commissioner S.S. Sandhu in his address, exhorted the SECs to learn from each other and adopt each other's best practices. Further, he underlined that trust is the foundation of every electoral process and thus it is important that both the ECI and SECs work in coordination.

Leveraging Digital Technology for Collaboration

Speaking on the importance of collaboration in digital technologies, Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi stressed upon leveraging the ECINET digital platform to build bridges between the functioning of the ECI and the State Election Commissions.

Conference Outcomes and Future Synergies

The deliberations provided a platform for constructive exchange of ideas and reinforced the spirit of cooperative federalism in electoral management. The participants adopted the National Declaration and resolved that the preparation of pure electoral rolls is the bedrock of democracy. The declaration also states ECI will work with SECs to synergise laws relating to Panchayats and Municipal Bodies with those relating to the elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures, and work towards furthering national and constitutional interests.

As per the release, during the Conference, the new ECI publication titled 'A Confluence of Democracies' was launched. The publication is a comprehensive record of the recently held India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM) 2026, documenting the participation of nearly 100 international delegates from over 70 countries along with international and national experts, deliberations across 36 thematic sessions and bilateral meetings, and the formal adoption of the Delhi Declaration 2026.

The National Round Table Conference, successfully held after a gap of 27 years, paves the way for fostering synergies by way of sharing technological solutions such as EVMs, ECINET, and the sharing of the Electoral Rolls. (ANI)

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