Afghan election officials receive training at Election Commission of India

New Delhi, Feb. 22 (ANI): A batch of election officials from Afghanistan has commenced training at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), the training and resource centre of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The special two-week course titled "Capacity Development for Election Management" has been designed for senior officials of Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan. The course has been organized with support from Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

This is the latest in the series of the Election Commission of India's initiatives to share experience, skills and expertise with its counterparts in the South Asian Region. The Election Commission of India is currently the Chair of the Forum of Election Management Bodies of South Asia.

Addressing the delegates on the first day of two-week training programme, Chief Election Commissioner of India, V. S. Sampath, told the Afghanistan officials that Election Commission of India considers them as master trainers who could, in turn, train other trainers at the district / assembly level ahead of elections in their country next year.

He mentioned that the Commission would like to see that even the last field-level election official in Afghanistan derives benefit from the knowledge gained by the participants during this training programme.

Earlier in the day, Election Commissioner, H. S. Brahma, welcomed the delegates and emphasized the importance of free and fair elections for sustaining democracy.

He also recommended extensive use of voter education and the use of technology for better management of elections.

The course is being attended by 17 participants, including senior officials of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan, and Provincial Election Officers. The Course has been designed keeping in view the specific requirements of the trainees and includes field level exposure to ECI's election machinery.

ECI/IIIDEM is scheduled to organize another programme, titled "Election Management: Emerging Challenges", the second international course in the series of Capacity Development programmes, for mid-career election officials from partner countries under Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme from April 10, 2013.

Recently, it organized a similar course for mid-level officials of all SAARC countries. (ANI)