CEC Gyanesh Kumar Highlights India's Transparent Voter List Process at Stockholm Summit

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar answered the questions raised by the opposition on the irregularities in the voter list in India and the working style of the Election Commission in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. At an international conference, where electoral purity and transparency were discussed, he said that the preparation of voter list in India is an extremely challenging and transparent process. He also clarified that the voter list is shared with recognized national and state level political parties every year during revision and before elections.

The CEC has clarified that sharing of voter list with recognized political parties has been an established process since 1960, which includes provision for claims, objections and appeals. This comment of the Chief Election Commissioner has come at a time when the Congress and other opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of manipulating voter data to rig the elections. The Election Commission has termed these allegations as baseless. Speaking at the event, Gyanesh Kumar said that the preparation of the voter list is one of the most rigorous and transparent tasks in the world, which ensures the accuracy and integrity of the electoral process.

According to the Election Commission, the Chief Election Commissioner said that this strong mechanism has contributed significantly in maintaining electoral credibility across the country. The CEC clarified that there is mandatory participation of political parties in the process of revision of the voter list, which includes the preparation of the voter list and checking the EVMs. After the voting, complete information of the voting is provided to the political parties. He also informed that more than two crore employees work closely with the Election Commission in this entire process, and a prescribed manual has been made for each task.

Giving information about the participation of 743 political parties in the 2024 general elections, the head of the Election Commission of India, Gyanesh Kumar said that these included six national parties, 67 state level parties and other registered parties. He also mentioned that 62 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used in the Lok Sabha elections and a total of 20,271 candidates were in the fray. This process has been going on continuously for the last 65 years, and as per records, since 1960, the voter list has been shared with recognized political parties with provisions for claims, objections and appeals.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's comment has many meanings. It highlights the features of the election process, reflecting the strength of democracy in India, as well as gives a clear answer to the allegations of rigging in the elections by the Congress and other opposition parties. The Election Commission has described these allegations as baseless earlier and now at the international level. It is noteworthy that the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP had raised questions on the impartiality of the Election Commission by writing an article in a newspaper and alleged rigging in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Election Commission rejected these allegations of Rahul Gandhi, calling them baseless and factless.