ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

Elections Part 15 ( Article 324 – Article 329)

The Election commission is a constitutional body that is entrusted with

the responsibility of conducting free and fair elections in the country.

What is Article 324?

The Constitution provides Election Commission of India with the power of direction, superintendence, and
control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India and the office of vice-
president of India.

The Election Commission is an all-India body that is common to both the Central government and the State
governments.

Note: Panchayats and Municipalities elections are conducted by the respective State Election Commissions.
 Among the major Constitutional Bodies in India, Election Commission is a permanent Constitutional Body.
It was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.

COMMISSION:

There is a Chief Election Commissioner.

There are some other members called election commissioners.

Note: The President decides the strength from time to time.

APPOINTMENT:

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners are appointed by the President of India.
•Sunil Arora, IAS, Chief Election Commissioner of India •Ashok Lavasa, IAS, Election Commissioner of India

•Sushil Chandra, IRS (IT), Election Commissioner of India

 Constitutional Appointment of ECI

Since its inception in 1950 and till 15 October 1989, the election commission was as a one-member body with
only the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) as its sole member.

•On 16 October 1989, the voting age was changed from 21 to 18 years. So, two more election commissioners
were appointed by the president in order to cope with the increased work of the election commission.

•Since then, the Election Commission was a multi-member body which consisted of 3 election
commissioners.

•Later on, the two posts of election commissioners were eliminated in January 1990 and the Election
Commission was reverted to the previous position.

•This was repeated again later in October 1993 when the president appointed two more election
commissioners. Since then, the Election Commission functions as a multi-member body comprising of 3
commissioners.
Qualifications:

The qualifications of the members of the election commission are not prescribed in the constitution.

TERM OR TENURE:

The term and other conditions are decided by the President after a law is passed by the Parliament to
that effect.

The office is held by them for a term of 6 years or until they attain 65 years, whichever happens first.

The Constitution has not debarred the retiring chief or election commissioners from
any further appointment by the government.
CHAIRMAN OF ELECTION COMMISSION:

The Chief Election Commissioner acts as the Chairman of the Commission when any other election
commissioner is appointed.

In case of difference of opinion amongst the Chief Election Commissioner and/or two other election
commissioners, the matter is decided by the Commission by a majority.

SALARY:

The salary is decided by the Parliament.

The chief and the two other election commissioners have the same powers and emoluments including
salaries, which are the same as a Supreme Court judge.

RESIGNATION:

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners submit the resignation letter to the
President.
REMOVAL OF CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER:

The Chief Election Commissioner is removed in the same manner like that of a judge of Supreme Court.

REMOVAL OF OTHER ELECTION COMMISSIONERS:

Other Election Commissioners are removed by the President only on the recommendation of the Chief
Election Commissioner.

But, the advice of the Chief Election Commissioner is not binding on the President.
 Powers, Functions, and Responsibilities of Election Commission

The election commission prepares and revises the electoral rolls (voters List).

The election Commission will notify the dates and schedules the elections.

The election commission scrutinizes the nomination papers.

The election commission recognizes the political parties.

The election commission allots the election symbols to the political parties and also to the
independent candidates.

The election commission determines the code of conduct to be observed by the parties and the
candidates at the time of elections.
The election commission advices the President in the matter relating to the disqualification of the
members of Parliament. (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha).

The election commission advices the Governor of a state in the matter relating to the disqualification of
the members of state Legislature.

The Election Commission recognizes the political parties as National party or Regional (state) party.
Note: The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed by the Chief Election Commissioner in consultation with the state
government. ( At the state level)

At the district level the district Collector acts as the district returning officer (DRO)

For every constituency there is a returning officer (RO) appointed by the district collector.

The Collector also appoints presiding officer for every polling booth.
National parties
A registered party is recognised as a national party only if it fulfils any one
of the following three conditions:
• A party should win 2% of seats in the Lok sabha from at least three
different states.
• At a general election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls
6% of votes in any four or more states and in addition it wins four Lok
Sabha seats.
• A party gets recognition as a state party in four states.
 NATIONAL PARTIES
Foundation
No. Name Abbreviation Symbol
year
1 Bharatiya Janata Party BJP Lotus 1980
2 Indian National Congress INC Hand 1885
Hammer,
3 Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI-M sickle and 1964
star

Ears of corn
4 Communist Party of India CPI 1925
and sickle

5 Bahujan Samaj Party BSP Elephant 1984

6 Nationalist Congress Party NCP Clock 1999
Flowers and
7 All India Trinamool Congress AITC 1998
Grass

National People's Party were also recognised as National parties by the Election commission of India
 Recognition as a State Party
S.No. Condition
Secure at least 6% of the valid vote & win at least 2 seats in an
1
Assembly General Election
Secure at least 6% of the valid vote & win at least 1 seats in a Lok
2
Sabha General Election
Win at least 3% of the seats or at least 3 seats , whichever is more, in
3
an Assembly General Election
Win at least 1 out of every 25 seats from a state in a Lok Sabha General
4
Election
Secure at least 8% of the total valid vote in an Assembly or a Lok Sabha
5
General Election
 Foundation
No. Name Abbreviation Current leader(s) States/UT
Year
1 Aam Aadmi Party AAP 2012 Arvind Kejriwal Delhi, Punjab

2 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam AIADMK 1972 Edappadi K. Palanisamy Puducherry, Tamil Nadu

3 All India Forward Bloc AIFB 1939 Debabrata Biswas West Bengal
4 All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen AIMIM 1927 Asaduddin Owaisi Telangana
5 All India N.R. Congress AINRC 2011 N. Rangasamy Puducherry
6 All India United Democratic Front AIUDF 2004 Badruddin Ajmal Assam
7 All Jharkhand Students Union AJSU 1986 Sudesh Mahto Jharkhand

8 Asom Gana Parishad AGP 1985 Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Assam

9 Biju Janata Dal BJD 1997 Naveen Patnaik Odisha

10 Bodoland People’s Front BPF 1985 Hagrama Mohilary Assam
 Advantages of being recognized as a State or National Party

The biggest advantage of being recognized is getting the reserved symbol.

A party recognized as a state party gets a reserved symbol within the state. All the candidates
contesting from that party will get the same symbol throughout the state.

For National Parties, the reserved symbol can be used across the country by its contesting candidates.
This is one the biggest advantages since symbol plays a very important role in elections.

There are also other advantages to the recognized parties like subsidized land for party offices, free
air time on Doordarshan & All India Radio, supply of electoral roll copies free of cost during
elections etc.
 List of Chief Election Commissioners of India–

S No Name Took Office Left Office

–
1 Sukumar Sen 21 March 1950 19 December 1958
2 Kalyan Sundaram 20 December 1958 30 September 1967
3 SP Sen Verma 1 October 1967 30 September 1972
4 Nagendra Singh 1 October 1972 6 February 1973
5 T. Swaminathan 7 February 1973 17 June 1977
6 S. L. Shakdhar 18 June 1977 17 June 1982
7 R. K. Trivedi 18 June 1982 31 December 1985
8 R. V. S. Peri Sastri 1 January 1986 25 November 1990
9 V. S. Ramadevi 26 November 1990 11 December 1990
10 T. N. Seshan 12 December 1990 11 December 1996
11 M. S. Gill 12 December 1996 13 June 2001
12 J. M. Lyngdoh 14 June 2001 7 February 2004
13 T. S. Krishnamurthy 8 February 2004 15 May 2005
14 T. S. Krishnamurthy 16 May 2005 29 June 2006
15 N. Gopalaswami 30 June 2006 20 April 2009
16 Navin Chawla 21 April 2009 29 July 2010
17 S. Y. Quraishi 30 July 2010 10 June 2012
18 V. S. Sampath 11 June 2012 15 January 2015
19 H. S. Brahma 16 January 2015 18 April 2015
20 Nasim Zaidi 19 April 2015 5 July 2017
21 Achal Kumar Jyoti 6 July 2017 22 January 2018
22 Om Prakash Rawat 23 January 2018 2 December 2018
22 Sunil Arora 3 December 2018 Incumbent