Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA)- India Elected as Chair of the AAEA

Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA)- India elected as chair of the AAEA

Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA)- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Recently, India has been unanimously elected as the new Chair of the Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) for 2022-2024.
India elected as chair of the AAEA at the recently held meeting of the Executive board and General Assembly at Manila, Philippines.
- Commission on Elections, Manila was the current chair of AAEA.
- The new member in the Executive Board of AAEA now includes Russia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Taiwan and Philippines.

About: AAEA was established in 1998 in pursuance of the resolution passed by participants of the Symposium on Asian Elections in the Twenty First Century held in 1997 in Manila, Philippines.
AAEA Members: Currently 20 Asian EMBs are members of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA).
AAEA Mission: the mission of AAEA is
- To provide a non-partisan forum in the Asian region for sharing experiences and best practices among election authorities &
- To discuss and act upon ways to promote open and transparent elections with the objective of supporting good governance and democracy.
India at AAEA: ECI is a founder member EMB of the AAEA and also served on the Executive Board of the AAEA as the Vice Chair during 2011-13 and Chair during 2014-16.
AAEA at other Institutions:
- Delegates from AAEA have also been regularly participating in the International Election Visitors Programme organised by Election Commission of India.
- 62 officials from 12 AAEA members participated in the 3rd International Virtual Election Visitors Programme (IEVP) hosted by ECI during Assembly Elections in 2022.
- AAEA is also an Associate Member of the 118 members Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB).

About: The ECI is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.
The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.

Part XV of the Indian constitution: deals with elections, and establishes a commission for these matters.
Article 324 to 329 of the constitution: deals with powers, function, tenure, eligibility, etc. of the commission and the member.

Articles related to Elections
324	Superintendence, direction, and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission.
325	No person to be ineligible for inclusion in, or to claim to be included in a special, electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste, or sex.
326	Elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of States to be on the basis of adult suffrage.
327	Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures.
328	Power of Legislature of a State to make provision with respect to elections to such Legislature.
329	Bar to interference by courts in electoral matters.