New Delhi | Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has written to all returning officers and superintendents of police, appreciating their exemplary performance and leadership in the conduct of the Lok Sabha polls.

Conveying appreciation for the entire election machinery under them for making the biggest democratic exercise a resounding success, Kumar said it has created a huge electoral surplus in a challenged democratic space worldwide.

"While announcing elections to the 18th Lok Sabha on March 16, I was able to make many bold upfront commitments to the nation to conduct the election with no violence, minimal repolls, zero tolerance to inducements, effective and timely response to misinformation, inclusion of all, comfortable experience at polling stations, to name a few, purely based on confidence in the extraordinary capabilities, commitment and dedication of you all.

"I have no hesitation in saying, you have not only kept our faith but have immensely enhanced the institutional prestige," Kumar wrote.

Individual letters to all officials are being sent. Nearly 900 returning officers, district election officers, SPs and commissioners of police were involved in the exercise, according to an estimate.