CEC Rajiv Kumar invited as International Observer for forthcoming Elections in Nepal

Rajendra S Markuna

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has been invited by the Election Commission of Nepal as international observer for the forthcoming elections to Nepal’s House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly.

Elections are scheduled in Nepal on 20th November, 2022 for the federal and provincial elections to elect 275 members of the federal parliament and 550 seats of the seven provincial assemblies.

Kumar will be leading a delegation of ECI officials as state guest in Nepal from 18th November to 22nd November, 2022. During his visit he  would be visiting polling stations at Kathmandu and areas around.

The ECI also has a similar international election visitors programme  where members from other election management bodies are invited to have firsthand experience of the general and assembly elections held periodically.

The ECI’s India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) has by far trained more than 2200 officers from 109 countries of whom 70 officers from Nepal have also been trained as part of capacity building initiatives.

A capacity building programme for 25 officials from the Election Commission of Nepal is also scheduled to be held from 13th to 24th March 2023 at IIIDEM.

The ECI had been chairing the Association of World Election Bodies, which is the world’s largest international organisation in the field of election management – since Sept 2019 to October 2022. A-WEB currently comprises 119 Election Management Bodies (EMBs) from 109 countries.

The ECI has now been unanimously elected as the new chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for the term 2022 to 2024 thus globally acknowledging ECI’s presence and efficient conduct of elections in world’s largest democracy.