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Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is on a three-day visit to Bhutan from 14 to 16 September 2026.
He meets His Majesty the King of Bhutan in Thimphu on 14 September and calls on Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay on 16 September.
He is Chief Guest at Bhutan's National Voters' Day at the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law, Paro, on 15 September 2026.
The visit builds on institutional cooperation between the Election Commission of India and the Election Commission of Bhutan.
Constitutional body under Article 324 running elections to Parliament, State legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President. It consists of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of Election Commissioners as the President may from time to time fix.
Bhutan's constitutional election management body, which conducted the country's first democratic parliamentary elections in 2007-08 and now hosts a National Voters' Day.
The first global organisation of election management bodies, established 14 October 2013 at Song-do, Republic of Korea. India hosted its 4th General Assembly at Bengaluru and the ECI chaired A-WEB for 2019-21.
Vests in the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of electoral rolls and of all elections to Parliament, State legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President. It provides for a Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners as the President may fix.
Act 49 of 2023; assented to on 28 December 2023 and commenced on 2 January 2024. It regulates appointment, service conditions and tenure: the President appoints on the recommendation of a Selection Committee of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or leader of the single largest opposition party). The CEC and Election Commissioners hold office for six years or until the age of 65, whichever is earlier.
Signed on 8 February 2007, it replaced the 1949 treaty whose Article 2 had required Bhutan to be guided by India's advice on its external relations. The revised Article 2 instead commits each side not to allow its territory to be used for activities harmful to the other's national security and interest - the legal frame within which institution-to-institution cooperation of this kind sits.
The Supreme Court had directed a panel including the Chief Justice of India; the 2023 Act put a Union Cabinet Minister in that slot instead - a standing exam distinction.
Like the UPSC and the CAG, the ECI draws its existence from the Constitution itself, not from a statute - the 2023 Act only regulates appointment and service conditions.
The ECI trains and advises other countries' election bodies through A-WEB and bilateral memoranda, making election management a strand of India's neighbourhood policy.
GS Paper 2 > Polity > Constitutional Bodies and India's Neighbourhood Relations
General Awareness > Indian Polity and Current Affairs
Which Article of the Indian Constitution deals with the "Election Commission of India"?
Answer: Article 324
Who appoints the Chief Election Commissioner of India?
Answer: President
Vests superintendence, direction and control of elections to Parliament, State legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President in the ECI.
Association of World Election Bodies, set up 14 October 2013 in the Republic of Korea; first global body of election management bodies.
A day marked to promote voter awareness and enrolment; Bhutan's edition was the occasion for this visit.