Election Commission Of India: Global election conference addresses misinformation threats to electoral integrity | India News


Global election conference addresses misinformation threats to electoral integrity
Central election commission of Kazakhstan chairman Nurlan Abdirov meets electoral commission of Namibia chairperson Elsie Nghikembua in the presence of chief election commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar during the International Conference on ‘Global Election Year 2024: Reiteration of Democratic Spaces; Takeaways for EMBs’. (Picture credit: ANI)

NEW DELHI: False narratives, fake news and misinformation campaigns on social media, aimed at undermining voters’ trust in live elections and electoral processes, have emerged as key concerns not only for the Election Commission of India (EC) but also for election management bodies (EMBs) from other parts of the world.
These common concerns were deliberated upon on Thursday by representatives of EC and EMBs from Mauritius, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Namibia, Indonesia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Tunisia, Ireland and Georgia at the two-day international conference here on ‘Global Election Year 2024: Reiteration of Democratic Spaces’. The conference is being hosted by EC ahead of National Voters’ Day on January 25.
Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, in his keynote address, emphasised upon the critical role of technology and digital innovations in enhancing efficiency, transparency and voter confidence in elections, but warned of challenges that come with technology, such as cybersecurity threats, AI-based fake content and misinformation. He said fake narratives, which tend to erode trust in the electoral process, are deliberately “timed at crucial junctures of the election process to target its very vitals”.
Echoing the concerns, the EMBs of Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia and Kazakhstan in their presentations at the conference, concurred that disinformation, misinformation and fake narratives on social media, affect electoral integrity in live elections. Mauritius CEC Abdool Rahman highlighted how a fake application created in his country had invited online applications for the recruitment of election staff.
An EMB representative from Namibia mentioned the rising trend of fake news and sought suggestions to tackle it. Commissioner of Indonesia’s General Election Commission Idhan Holik spoke about the dedicated WhatsApp channel they set up to tackle misinformation in real-time.
Kumar, outlining AI-driven processes, online and remote voting, biometric authentication and increased global collaboration as the key trends shaping the future of elections, called upon all the participants — which included representatives of international organisations like the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), A-WEB and International IDEA — to explore the opportunities with technological advancements, in making elections more transparent, inclusive and accessible.
Election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar shared the experiences from the 2024 Lok Sabha poll as “major learnings”, highlighting how the election process upheld quality and set new benchmarks in the conduct of polls despite the magnitude and complexity of the challenge.
The conference also witnessed Bhutan CEC Dasho Sonam Topgay thanking India for providing EVMs for the Bhutan election, saying that they had the people’s trust. Topgay said Bhutan was already using its biometric Unified National ID for voter authentication and also exploring the possibility of online voting in future polls.





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