Page 124 - Leap of Faith inside pages with cover (1)
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Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections
The Sixteenth General Elections, 2014 were staggered into
nine phases- April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 30 and May 7 & 12.
However, in most of the states/UT (21), the polls were single
phased. Only two states saw six phased polling. These
elections were historic in terms of electoral participation.
The voters' turnout stood at 66.44 percent. The imprint of
SVEEP was evident in the electoral participation.
Election Commission of India's international cooperation
SYMBOL got a strong fillip during S.Y. Quraishi and V.S. Sampath's
tenures. India was one of the founding members of the A-
NONE OF THE ABOVE (NOTA) WEB (Association of World Election Bodies) headquartered
ukVs k - mijkDs r ea s ls dkbs Z ugha in Incheon, South Korea during 2011-12 as well as Forum of
the Election Management Bodies of South Asia
(FEMBoSA). ECI was nominated to the first executive of A-
WEB and took a leading role in finalising the charter, vision,
NOTA symbol
and mission of this global body through active participation
On August 14, 2013 the Ministry of Law and Justice
amended the Conduct of Elections Rule, 1961 making the
introduction of the VVPAT possible. It was first put into
action on September 4, 2013 in bye-election in Noksen
(ST) Constituency in Nagaland.
A judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated
September 27, 2013 paved the way for inclusion of “None
of the above” (NOTA) option in EVM/Ballot Paper. However,
under the Sections 66 and 67 of the Representation of the
People Act, 1951 Election Commission of India is still
obliged to declare the results of the poll, and also report the
same to the appropriate authorities for the publication of
names in the official gazette.
India's electorate size had grown by 34.45 percent from
605,880,192 electors in 1998 to 814,591,184 in 2014.This
was found in the summary revision of electoral roll CEC V.S. Sampath engaged in deliberations with
published on February 14, 2014. members of international Election Management Bodies
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