As a democratic country, India has an independent Election Commission in order to conduct systematic, corruption free and impartial elections as and when required. The architects of Indian Constitution knew how important elections are for the largest democratic country in the world; hence, they added information related to Election Commission and rules of elections in article 324-329 of the Constitution.
The Election Commission conducts Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhana Sabha, Vidhana Parishat elections along with Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections. India has only one Election Commission and all the elections across the country are conducted as per the directions and guidelines of the commission.
The given information aims at helping UPSC civil services aspirants.
What is the structure of Election Commission?
The Election Commission comprises one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. Initially, this commission had a single member only. However, it became a three member commission after the recommendations of Dinesh Goswami Committee in the year 1990. The aforementioned recommendation was welcomed by the Supreme Court.
How are the election commissioners appointed?
The President of India appoints all the three Election Commissioners based on the advice of the Union Cabinet as per article 324 (2) of the Constitution.
In 1973, the tenure of election commissioners was fixed to 5 years. On 1 January 1986, the parliament increased the tenure to 6 years. However, if an election commissioner completes 65 years even before the completion of his tenure in the office, he/she would retire.
08 January 1991 brought a few changes in the election commission as the Lok Sabha passed a bill with an intention to provide the election commissioners with the same status, salary and other privileges similar to those enjoyed by the judges of the Apex Court.
The parliament decides the services to be delivered by the Election Commissioners. The staff required for the Election Commission is appointed as per the sub-article 324(6) of the Constitution. The election commissioners receive their salary from the Consolidated Fund of India.
How are the election commissioners dismissed from their power? The election commissioners can be dismissed from their power as per the sub-article 324(5) of the Indian Constitution. The parliament can dismiss them through special majority by presenting the list of impeachment before the house. The Chief Election Commissioner can also advice the President of India to dismiss the two election commissioners under the sub-article mentioned above. Here is the list of Chief Election Commissioners We hope the description about Election Commission of India contributes to your preparation for UPSC and other exams with questions on general knowledge.SL No NAME TENURE 1 Sukumar Sen 1950-1958 2 K V Sundaram 1958-1967 3 S P Sen Verma 1967-1972 4 Dr. Nagendra Singh 1972-1973 5 T Swaminathan 1973-1977 6 S L Shakdhar 1977-1982 7 R K Trivedi 1982-1985 8 R V S Peri Sastri 1986-1990 9 V S Ramadevi Nov 1990-Dec 1990 10 T N Seshan 1990-1996 11 Dr. M S Gill 1996-2001 12 J M Lyngdoh 2001-2004 13 T S Krishnamurthy 2004-2005 14 B B Tandon 2005-2006 15 N Gopalaswami 2006-2009 16 Navin Chawla 2009-2010 17 S Y Qureshi 2010-2012 18 V S Sampath 2012-2015 19 Nasim Zaidi April 2015 -
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