New Delhi: At a time when its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is shrouded in controversy, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to host a global conference in the capital where topics like best practices on the purity of electoral rolls, ease of voter registration, eligibility of voters, and technology-driven voter registration are set to be discussed.
The ECI will host the inaugural India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM) 2026 from January 21 to 23 at the Bharat Mandapam. The 3-day international conference is being organised by the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) under the aegis of the ECI.
The theme for the conference is ‘Democracy for an inclusive, peaceful, resilient, and sustainable world’.
The state chief electoral officers will lead 36 thematic groups. These sessions will include 11 modern international electoral standards and 25 best practices and innovations in electoral processes.
Chief electoral officers of various states have been assigned these sessions, with each CEO tasked with coordinating the session. For instance, the session on the purity of electoral rolls has been assigned to the CEO, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu; the session on maintenance of law and order has been assigned to the CEO, Uttar Pradesh, while the one on ease of voter registration has been assigned to the CEO, Bihar. The session on Electronic Voting Machines has been assigned to the CEO, Chandigarh.
Asked whether SIR and best practices related to it would be discussed at the conference, Director General of IIIDEM Rakesh Verma did not mention the SIR, but said, “When we organise these press conferences, the idea is to look at all best practices across the globe. There will be election management bodies who will be making presentations, there will be some experts who will be making presentations and Chief Electoral Officers will also share their experiences. That will contribute to overall standards and best practices…it’s an evolution process, this is just the beginning.”
He added: “The first conference will have some exchange of practices and knowledge and as we go along we will see how that shapes into our final output.”
Verma also clarified that the assignment of sessions to any particular state is not reflective of the state or its performance in that area of election management.
Other sessions on best practices and innovations in electoral standards will include sessions on grievance redressal in voter registration, transparency of elections, regulation of political parties, model code of conduct for campaigns, postal ballot system, robustness of counting process, tackling misinformation and disinformation in elections, regulating media campaigns, and election planning.
AI in elections
At a press conference held Wednesday, Verma told media persons that almost three dozen member states of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) will be participating in the conference, including the US, Mauritius, Brazil, and South Africa.
Verma said that 42 Election Management Bodies from across the world, with more than 90 international delegates, will be attending the conference. In addition, he said that representation from foreign missions in India is also expected.
One of the thematic pillars for the conference is “reimagining democracy for the future”. Verma said that this would include AI in elections, how democracy is empowering people and entrepreneurship, and how democracy leads to economic growth.
During the global conference, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi, will be holding over 40 bilateral meetings with the heads of participating EMBs and other international delegates, an ECI press release said.
(Edited by Varnika Dhawan)