Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar, July 20 (IANS) Ahmedabad will host an international symposium on electoral transparency on Tuesday, bringing together election officials, legal experts, academics and international delegates to examine the role of political parties as continuous overseers of the electoral process.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Gujarat will organise the thematic symposium, titled “Electoral Transparency: Political Parties as Concurrent Auditors”, at Nirma University on July 21 in collaboration with the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), New Delhi, and other institutions.
According to the officials, the symposium is intended to strengthen transparency, credibility and accountability in democratic elections by exploring how political parties contribute not only as electoral contestants but also as key stakeholders and observers throughout the election process.
“Political parties play an important role at every stage of an election, from the preparation of electoral rolls to polling, counting of votes and declaration of results. The presence of authorised representatives and polling agents of political parties helps ensure continuous monitoring and verification of electoral procedures,” officials said.
The symposium will examine this role through the concept of political parties acting as “concurrent auditors” of the electoral process.
The event will be attended by Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer Sandeep Sagale, Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan, representatives of the election administration from Chhattisgarh and delegates from the Philippines’ election management sector.
Vice-Chancellors, registrars, legal scholars, researchers, election management officials and experts from leading law universities across India are also expected to participate.
Discussions will be organised across five thematic sessions covering institutional frameworks, neutrality and political party-based oversight; continuity of scrutiny throughout the electoral cycle and existing gaps; transparency, public trust and the risk of politicisation; auditability in technology-driven election management; and mechanisms for strengthening accountability through effective election observation.
The organisers said participation from Indian states and international delegates would provide a platform to compare different approaches to electoral transparency and share practical experiences.
The symposium will also draw on the international experience of election management representatives from the Philippines alongside the operational experience of election officials from different Indian states and the academic and legal perspectives of law universities.
According to the CEO’s office, the discussions are expected to contribute to a better understanding of existing electoral transparency mechanisms, identify emerging challenges and opportunities, document best practices from different electoral systems and support the development of evidence-based policy recommendations aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability and public confidence in the electoral process.
–IANS
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