Laxmikanth Summary: Election Commission | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

The Election Commission is a permanent and independent organization established by the Constitution of India with the primary responsibility of ensuring fair and free elections across the country. According to Article 324 of the Constitution, the Election Commission has the authority over the supervision, direction, and control of elections for parliament, state legislatures, the President, and the Vice-President of India. It is an All-India body, meaning it works for both the Central and state governments. It's important to note that the Election Commission doesn't handle elections for panchayats and municipalities in the states.

Composition of Election Commission 

• Article 324 of the Constitution establishes the Election Commission with a Chief Election Commissioner and others appointed by the President. 
• The Chief Election Commissioner becomes the chairman when other commissioners are appointed.
• The Election Commission is made up of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners as decided by the President.
• The President is responsible for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and the other election commissioners.
• When additional election commissioners are appointed, the Chief Election Commissioner will serve as the chairman of the commission.
• The President can also choose regional commissioners to help the Election Commission after consulting with it.
• According to laws made by Parliament, the President will decide the conditions of service and tenure for both the election commissioners and the regional commissioners.

History of the Election Commission

• Since its establishment in 1950 until October 15, 1989, the Election Commission operated with just the Chief Election Commissioner.
• On October 16, 1989, the President appointed two more election commissioners to manage the increased workload due to the voting age being lowered from 21 to 18 years.
• After that, the Election Commission became a multi-member body with three election commissioners.
• In January 1990, the two additional positions were removed, reverting the commission to a single-member body.
• Then, in October 1993, the President appointed two more election commissioners, and since then, the commission has remained a multi-member body with three members.

Conditions of Service for Election Commissioners

• The Chief Election Commissioner and the two other election commissioners have the same powers and receive equal salaries, allowances, and other benefits, similar to those of a Supreme Court judge.
• If there is a disagreement among the Chief Election Commissioner and the other two commissioners, the issue is resolved by a majority vote.
• The election commissioners serve for a term of six years or until they reach the age of 65, whichever comes first. They can also resign at any time by informing the President.

Independence

• Article 324 of the Constitution safeguards Election Commission independence.
• Chief Election Commissioner enjoys secure tenure and can only be removed with Parliament's approval.
• Service conditions of the Chief Election Commissioner remain unchanged after the appointment.
• Other commissioners can be removed only on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
• Flaws exist: The Constitution lacks specifications for qualifications, terms, and post-retirement appointments of Election Commission members.
• In a 2023 case, the Supreme Court directed a committee (Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Chief Justice of India) for commissioner appointments.
• Removal grounds for other commissioners should match the Chief Election Commissioner's, and their service conditions shouldn't change to their disadvantage.
• Supreme Court's directions stand until Parliament creates a law in line with Article 324.

Powers and Function

• Administrative
• Advisory
• Quasi-Judicial

These responsibilities include: 

(a) Territorial Delimitation: Determine the territorial areas of electoral constituencies based on the Delimitation Commission Act of Parliament.

(b) Electoral Rolls: Prepare and periodically revise electoral rolls, registering all eligible voters.

(c) Election Schedules: Notify dates and schedules of elections and scrutinize nomination papers.

(d) Recognition of Political Parties: Grant recognition to political parties and allot election symbols to them.

(e) Dispute Settlement: Act as a court for settling disputes related to the recognition of political parties and the allotment of election symbols.

(f) Appointment of Officers: Appoint officers to inquire into disputes related to electoral arrangements.

(g) Code of Conduct: Determine the code of conduct to be observed by parties and candidates during elections.

(h) Publicity Roster: Prepare a roster for the publicity of political parties' policies on radio and TV during elections.

(i) Advisory Role: Advise the President on matters related to the disqualifications of members of Parliament.

(j) State Legislature Advice: Advise the governor on matters related to the disqualifications of members of the state legislature.

(k) Cancellation of Polls: Cancel polls in the event of rigging, booth capturing, violence, and other irregularities.

(l) Staff Requisition: Request the President or the governor for requisitioning necessary staff for conducting elections.

(m) Supervision: Supervise the machinery of elections throughout the country to ensure free and fair elections.

(n) Emergency Extension: Advise the President on whether elections can be held in a state under the President's rule to extend the period of emergency after one year.

(o) Political Party Registration: Register political parties for elections and grant them the status of national or state parties based on their poll performance.

Vision, Mission, and Principles

• Vision: The Election Commission of India aims to excel as an institution by actively engaging and enhancing participation, thereby deepening and strengthening electoral democracy within India and globally.
• Mission: The Election Commission of India is committed to maintaining independence, integrity, and autonomy. It ensures accessibility, inclusiveness, and ethical participation of stakeholders while upholding the highest standards of professionalism. The mission is to deliver free, fair, and transparent elections to foster trust in electoral democracy and governance.

Importance of ECI for India

• The ECI has been successfully conducting national as well as state elections since 1952.
• The Commission had gone to the extent of disciplining the political parties with a threat of derecognizing if the parties failed in maintaining inner-party democracy.
• It upholds the values enshrined in the Constitution viz, equality, equity, impartiality, independence; and rule of law in superintendence, direction, and control over the electoral governance.
• It conducts elections with the highest standard of credibility, freedom, fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability, autonomy, and professionalism.
• It ensures the participation of all eligible citizens in the electoral process in an inclusive voter-centric and voter-friendly environment.
• It creates awareness about the electoral process and electoral governance amongst stakeholders namely, voters, political parties, election functionaries, candidates, and people at large.

Major Challenges

• Over the years influence of money and criminal elements in politics has increased along with violence and electoral malpractices resulting in criminalization of politics. The ECI has been unable to arrest this deterioration.
• In recent years, an impression is gaining ground that the Election Commission is becoming less and less independent of the Executive which has impacted the image of the institution.
• One of the major institutional drawbacks is non-transparency in the election of CEC and the other two commissioners which is based on the choice of presiding government.
• There have been allegations of EVMs malfunctioning, getting hacked, and not registering votes which corrodes the general masses trust in the institution.

Way Forward

• Until the controversy related to glitches in EVM settles down, the commission needs to establish its trust amongst people by installing ( Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail System ) VVPATS in more and more constituencies.
• There is a need to provide more legal support to the commission's mandate and the processes that support that mandate.
• 2nd ARC report recommended that a collegium headed by the Prime Minister with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Law Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha as members should make recommendations for the consideration of the President for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners.