Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the Election Commission of India (ECI) gives ‘agnipariksha’ every time after each election despite conducting 400 state assembly elections, 17 parliamentary, 16 presidential and vice-presidential elections so far. The CEC was responding to question of people trusting the Commission over ‘free and fair elections' in poll-bound Karnataka.
"In the last 70 years, India has stabilised its social, cultural, political, geographical , economic, linguistic issues peacefully and through dialogue mainly because of established democracy which is possible only because people trust election results . Still, ECI gives ‘agnipariskha' every time after each election," Kumar said at a press conference in Bengaluru, adding that this is in ‘stark comparison’ to what has been recently happening in many developed countries.
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Kumar was Bengaluru to assess the preparedness ahead of the Karnataka assembly election. During his visit, he announced that citizens above 80 and people with disability can vote from home in the upcoming election. The CEC said a 12D form will be available to facilitate the vote-from-home option to voters.
"For the first time, we are going to provide in Karnataka the facility to all 80 plus and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) voters, if they so desire, to vote even from their homes. There is a form 12D which will be available within five days of the notification so that any 80 plus or PwD voter, desirous of voting from home, can be facilitated," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"For the first time, we are going to provide in Karnataka the facility to all 80 plus and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) voters, if they so desire, to vote even from their homes. There is a form 12D which will be available within five days of the notification so that any 80 plus or PwD voter, desirous of voting from home, can be facilitated," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar further said the current term of the Karnataka assembly will end on May 24 and elections have to be completed before that.