ECI won't shy away from tough decisions, says new chief

New Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said that the poll panel would continue to go by consensus while bringing about any major electoral reform and would not shy away from taking tough decisions to do what it was mandated to do by the Constitution.

“The commission will follow the time-tested and democratic methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any major reform for dynamically evolving to changing contexts,” Kumar said after taking the office of the Chief Election Commissioner, succeeding Sushil Chanda, who retired on Saturday. “And, in matters for which it is responsible under the Constitution, the EC will not shy away from tough decisions”, added Kumar.

Kumar joined the EC as an Election Commissioner on September 1, 2020. During his tenure, elections have been held for state assemblies of Bihar in 2020, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in March-April 2021 and also elections in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh early this year.

He said that a lot had been done during the last 70 years by the EC to give citizens free and fair elections, ensure the purity of the electoral rolls, prevent malpractices and enhance the quality of our elections.

He also said that the EC would continue to use technology as a major instrument for simplification of processes and practices for bringing about transparency and ease of voter services for better election management and operations.