Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Monday said eternal vigilance is the price democratic countries pay for liberty.
This was particularly true of emerging democracies where despite the political will of the citizens, the persisting statusquoist system suffers from ingrained weakness of institutions and trained manpower to conduct free, fair and participatory elections in a transparent manner, he said.
Speaking at the extraordinary session of the Executive Board of Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) at Bengaluru, Arora cautioned against electoral miscarriage, which might breed distrust towards the democratic institutions, a government press release said.
Arora recalled a famous quote of Thomas Alva Edison, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration."
"It is a very noble idea, which has inspired generation of patriots, reformers and humanists. But it takes a lot of imagination, diligence and professionalism to implement it on ground level."
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