‘Never went missing’: CEC Rajiv Kumar on ‘Laapata Gentlemen’ memes on social media | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday reacted to recent social media memes that referred to election commissioners as ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’, Kumar and reassured the public, stating, “We were always here, never went missing.”
He humorously added, “Now memes can say the ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’ are back,” indicating that the election commissioners have been actively engaged throughout the process.
The Election Commission made the comment while addressing a press briefing ahead of counting votes for the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The Chief Election Commissioner also announced that India set a new global record during this year’s Lok Sabha elections, with an astounding 64.2 crore voters participating, including 31.2 crore women.
In his press briefing, Kumar highlighted the massive logistical undertaking involved in conducting the world’s largest electoral exercise. He revealed that over 68,000 monitoring teams were deployed, and an impressive 1.5 crore polling and security personnel worked tirelessly to ensure the smooth execution of the elections.
“India created a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the Lok Sabha elections this year,” Kumar emphasized, underscoring the significance of this milestone.
Chief Election Commissioner Kumar praised the diligent efforts of the election staff, which resulted in a significant reduction in repolls during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He stated, “Due to the meticulous work of the election personnel we ensured fewer repolls – we saw 39 repolls in Lok Sabha polls 2024 as opposed to 540 in 2019 and 25 out of 39 repolls were in 2 States only.”
The Election Commission expressed gratitude to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their trust in the electoral process, with voter turnout reaching its highest level in four decades.
“Jammu and Kashmir recorded highest turnout in four decades at 58.58 per cent overall, and 51.05 per cent in valley. We will very soon start poll process in Jammu and Kashmir, we are very enthused by voter turnout,” he said.
The Election Commission made a record seizure of nearly Rs 10,000 crores during the election, which is almost three times the value seized in 2019. The CEC credited the empowerment of local teams for this achievement.