Recently, the Election Commission of India inaugurated the 11th Annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of SouthAsia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2021.
Important points:
- Election Commission of Bhutan.
- The Election Commission of India handed over the chairmanship of FEMBoSA role to the Election Commission of Bhutan for 2021-22.
- A resolution was unanimously adopted by the FEMBoSA members to extend the tenure of chairmanship to two years during the current pandemic situation.
- Before this, the tenure of the chairmanship was one year.
- ‘Use of Technology in Elections’.
- The technology is extensively used to make elections more participative, accessible and transparent.
- It has become more important during the Covid 19 situation as it is helping in minimizing person-to-person contact.
FEMBoSA:
- The forum was established at the 3rd Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation)Countries in 2012.
- SAARC comprises eight member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- To increase mutual cooperation in respect to the common interests of the SAARC’s EMBs.
- FEMBoSA represents a very large part of the democratic world and it is an active regional cooperation association of EMBs.
- Its logo with golden pearls stands for the eternal values of transparency, impartiality, democracy and cooperation.
Election Commission of India (ECI)
- The ECI is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.
- The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.
- The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
Constitutional Provisions:
- Part XV of the Indian constitution deals with elections, and establishes a commission for these matters.
- Article 324 to 329 of the constitution deals with powers, function, tenure, eligibility, etc of the commission and the members.
- Article 324 provides for appointment of a Election commission to superintend, direct and control the elections.
- Originally the commission had only one election commissioner but after the Election Commissioner Amendment Act 1989, it has been made a multi-member body.
- The commission presently consists of one Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners (ECs).
- The secretariat of the commission is located in New Delhi.
SOURCE: THE HINDU ,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT