EC Proposes Annual Lecture in Memory of First Chief Sukumar Sen

CEC Sunil Arora made the announcement of the EC proposing an annual lecture in the memory of Sukumar Sen.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Election Commission has proposed to institute an annual lecture in memory of the country's first chief election commissioner Sukumar Sen so as to build awareness about his contributions to the electoral system, Chief Electoral Commissioner, Sunil Arora said on Thursday.

Sen served as the first CEC from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958, overseeing the first general elections in 1952.

“The EC has proposed to institute a lecture in memory of Sukumar Sen, the first CEC of the country, to build awareness about his contributions to the electoral system.”

Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commisioner

The book -- "The Great March of Democracy: Seven Decades of India's Elections" -- is a compilation of essays by several scholars, authors and political leaders, among others, and edited by former CEC SY Quraishi.

Quraishi said Sen is among the people, the book is dedicated to.

“His contributions to this field are immense... About 80-85 per cent of the electoral system we still use today, was laid down by him.”

SY Quraishi, Former CEC

The Election Commission in a statement said, "This lecture would be delivered by an eminent person from the democratic world, whose contribution for the spread and furtherance of democratic values and ideals is widely known and recognised."

“It would be the endeavour of the Commission to involve a wide cross-section of civil society including political parties, NGOs, media, leading constitutionalists, legal luminaries, academia and other.”

Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commisioner

CEC Arora also touched upon the topic of simultaneous elections. He said that we had simultaneous elections till 1967 but the cycle got disrupted for various reasons. He said that political systems of the country will have to take steps to align the life of a state assembly with the life of the Parliament, in order to achieve this desirable goal of simultaneous elections.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)