The three-day International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM) 2026 was opened by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on January 21 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, bringing together election leaders and specialists from around the world.
Nearly 1,000 people attended the first session, including delegations from 42 election management bodies, high commissioners and ambassadors from 27 nations, representatives from more than 70 national institutions, senior ECI officials, and 36 chief electoral officers from all over India.
At a special reception, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi greeted about sixty foreign delegates.
In his speech, the CEC emphasised the changing role of electoral bodies as well as India’s expertise in holding elections on an unprecedented scale for a population of 1.5 billion people over 28 states and eight Union Territories.
Dr Joshi pointed out that the conference brings together a variety of stakeholders to strengthen electoral processes, while Election Commissioner Dr Sandhu emphasised that public faith in elections is essential to democracy.
IIIDEM Director General Democracy for an inclusive, peaceful, resilient, and sustainable world is the topic of IICDEM 2026, according to Rakesh Verma, and it represents a contemporary, multifaceted vision of democratic government.
Previews of the upcoming Warner Bros. Discovery-produced documentary series India Decides, which highlights the intricacy of India’s voting system, were also shown to the participants.
