Germany, on Tuesday, appreciated the vast exercise of electoral management by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the largest democracy in the world, given the challenges of diverse geography, culture, and electorate in this country.

A German delegation, led by visiting Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, met Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel at the Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi. The delegation included four Members of Parliament namely Agnieszka Brugger, Thomas Erndl, Ulrich Lechte and Andreas Larem German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann.

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Speaking on the occasion, CEC Rajiv Kumar informed the German delegation that the idea of democracy was deeply rooted in India’s historical context and traditions. Giving an overview of the magnitude of Indian elections, he informed the German delegation of the detailed exercise that ECI conducted for over 950 million voters across 1.1 million polling stations, co-opting 11 million polling personnel ensuring robust electoral processes for conducting free, fair, inclusive, accessible and participative elections.

He emphasised that the ECI ensured disclosures and participation of political parties at every stage. Kumar said that apart from the logistical challenges, the disruptive impact of fake social media narratives potentially affecting free and fair elections was fast emerging as a common challenge for most election management bodies.

The German minister was briefed about the extensive use of technology by the ECI in the conduct of elections broadly under three verticals of voters’ participation, political parties/candidates and election machinery logistics.  She personally cast a vote through EVM during a demonstration of EVM-VVPAT functioning organised by the ECI for the delegation.

The foreign minister, along with the MPs, keenly observed the strong security features of standalone EVMs along with rigorous administrative protocols on handling, movement, storage, operations and the process for participation of political parties at every stage of electoral processes involving EVMs.