CEC Rajiv Kumar will visit polling stations in and around Nepal's capital Kathmandu

The Election Commission of Nepal has invited Chief Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar as an international observer for the upcoming elections for the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly of Nepal, the Election Commission of India said on Thursday.

Nepal will hold federal and provincial elections to fill 550 seats in the seven provincial assemblies and elect 275 members of the federal parliament on November 20, 2022.

From November 18 to November 22, 2022, Rajiv Kumar will head a delegation of ECI officials visiting Nepal as a state guest. He is scheduled to visit polling stations in and around Kathmandu during his visit.

Similar to this, the Election Commission of India also has an International Election Visitors Program where members from other Election Management Bodies are invited to experience firsthand the country's General and Assembly Elections held periodically.

From September 2019 to October 2022, ECI served as chair of the Association of World Election Bodies, the largest international organization in the field of election management.

Now, ECI has been unanimously chosen to serve as the new chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for the period 2022–2024, officially recognizing its presence and effective management of elections in the largest democracy in the world.

In order to strengthen democratic institutions and processes, the Election Commission of India has consistently led the way in promoting democracy around the world through bilateral and multilateral interactions with other Election Management Bodies (EMBs) and relevant international organizations and associations.

The organization has worked to foster contacts, facilitate knowledge exchange, and share best practices.

According to the ECI, its India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) has 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 program for 25 officials from Election Commission of Nepal is also scheduled to be held from March 23-24, 2023 at IIIDEM.

Representatives from Election Commission of Nepal participated in the recently held International Conference hosted by ECI on Conference on ‘Role, Framework & Capacity of EMBs’ as a follow on to the Summit for Democracy’ ECI said it would be hosting two more International conferences on the theme of “Inclusive and Accessible elections” as also “Technology in elections” as part of Cohort activities under “Summit for Democracy – Year of Action”.