Lok Sabha Question No. 1987 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-10
Subject: Association of Asian Election Authorities
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN, FAGGAN SINGH KULASTE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1987

## TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, 10 th  December, 2015

## Association of Asian Election Authorities

## 1987. SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN: SHRI FAGGAN SINGH KULASTE:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether any meeting of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) was held in the country recently;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the issues discussed in the said meeting and the decisions taken thereon;
- (c)  whether  any  special  training  programme  for  Asian  election  officials  has  been proposed by the Election Commission of India;
- (d) if  so, the details thereof and the salient features/objectives  of the said programme; and
- (e) the names of the member countries of the AAEA along with the countries which are likely to participate in the said training programme?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI D.V. SADANANDA GOWDA)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN RESPECT OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1987 FOR 10 th  DECEMBER, 2015

(a)  to  (b):  The  Election  Commission  has  informed  that  they  have  recently  hosted  the 2015 Executive Board meeting of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) in New Delhi on 15-16 September, 2015. The Executive Board decided to invite Election Authorities  from  other  Asian  countries  to  seek  membership  of  the  Association.  The Executive  Board  also  agreed  on  an  uploaded  Work  Plan  for  2015-2016,  which  would include  exchange  of  experiences  through  election  visits,  conferences  and  seminars  on election-related themes and capacity building of Election Authorities in the region.

- (c):  The  Election  Commission  has  further  informed  that  Training  Division  of  the Election  Commission  has  not  proposed  any  training  programme  for  officials  of  Asian Election Authorities. However, India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM)/Training Division has conducted 17 training programmes since 2011 till date in which officials of Election Management Bodies of countries including South Asian  Association  for  Regional  Cooperation  (SAARC),  Commonwealth  network, and  Indian  Technical  and  Economic  Cooperation  (ITEC)  Partner  countries  have participated.
- (d): The objectives of the programmes is to build the capacity of the officers of Election Management  Bodies  in  the  field  of  election  management  and  the  subjects  (topics) discussed are - 'Democracy, Free and Fair elections and International Standards Crowd sourcing and Electoral Risk Management Tool (ERMT), Electronic Voting Machines & Voter  Verifiable  Paper  Audit  Trial,  Political  Finance  Monitoring,  Gender,  Disability, Technology,  Voter  Registration,  Voter  Education,  Campaign  Expenditure  Monitoring, Election  Dispute  Resolution  including  use  of  Technology,  Conduct  of  Elections  and Result Transmission'.
- (e): The Election Commission has informed that the names of the participating country for  training  programme  are  finalized  when  a  proposal  is  prepared.  A  list  of  member countries of Association of Asian Election Authorities is enclosed as Annexure-1 .

## ANNEXURE-1

## Salient features/objectives of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA)

India is a founding member of AAEA which was established in 1998 and, with admission of three new members in 2014, now has 20 member-countries. Besides India, other members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan,  South  Korea,  Kyrgyz  Republic,  Maldives,  Mongolia,  Nepal,  Pakistan, Papua  New  Guinea,  the  Philippines,  the  Russian  Federation,  Sri  Lanka,  Taiwan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Election Commission of India elected Chair of Association of AAEA in 2014 General Assembly Meeting of AAEA for the next two years.