India leads major democracies in electoral transparency: CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Srinagar: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday said India was leading the world's major democracies with a transparent electoral process in which every stage of the exercise is audited by the political parties and candidates.

"We discussed the components of the world's most transparent electoral process -- preparation of the voter list, polling and counting. These are concurrently audited by all political parties and candidates," Kumar, who is on a three-day visit to Kashmir, told reporters here.

Earlier in the day, Kumar addressed a gathering of booth-level officers (BLOs) in Budgam district, about 12 km from Srinagar.


He said India currently holds the chair of International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), an intergovernmental organisation that supports sustainable democracy worldwide.

"Seeing this process of Indian elections, in 2026 Bharat is currently leading all the large democratic countries of the world, and is also the chairperson of International IDEA," he said.

The Chief Election Commissioner described BLOs as the pillars of democracy.

"Once again, through all of you, my greetings to all the voters of Jammu & Kashmir, and greetings to all BLOs, BLO supervisors, AEROs, EROs, and DEOs," he added.