Election Commission learns from heatstroke tragedy, sets April deadline for general elections

NEW DELHI: In a recent press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar unveiled insights into India's electoral landscape, addressing challenges and highlighting achievements from the latest general elections.

Kumar emphasized the need for proactive measures to safeguard election personnel, following the tragic loss of 33 employees to heatstroke during duty. He announced plans to conclude future general elections by April to mitigate such risks.

Amid allegations of foreign interference, Kumar reassured the public of the transparency and integrity of the electoral process. While acknowledging the resolution of grievances raised by political parties, he cautioned against the spread of misinformation, particularly with foreign assistance.

Efforts to combat irregularities included leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify and block fake content, with 90 percent of complaints related to Model Code of Conduct violations resolved. He addressed opposition demands regarding the counting of postal votes, emphasizing practical limitations.

Rajeev Kumar informed that 64.2 lakh voters, including 31.2 crore women, exercised their right to vote in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections. This is a world record. This is one and a half times the number of voters in the G7 countries and two and a half times the number of voters in the 27 EU countries. The Chief Minister also said that due to the meticulous work of the election officials, the re-polls were reduced. Commissioner said. This year only 39 seats were re-polled out of 540 seats in 2019. 25 of them in two states.