Chief Election Commissioner of India

Role and powers

Chief election commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national legislature, state legislatures, president and vice-president. This power of the Election Commission of India is derived from the Article 324 of the Constitution of India. The chief election commissioner is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service. The Election Commission of India consists of a chief election commissioner and two election commissioners. The chief election commissioner does not have overruling powers and any decision is taken by the opinion of the majority among the three.

Appointment and term of office

The appointment and term of the chief election commissioner are prescribed in the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. As per Section 7 of the act, an election commissioner is appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of a selection committee headed by the prime minister and consisting of the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and a member of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the prime minister. The senior most member of the election commission is appointed as the chief election commissioner by the president.

The term of the CEC can be a maximum of six years from the date on which they assume their office. However, the CEC retires from office if they attain the age of sixty-five years before the expiry of the term.

The CEC can be removed from the office through the process of impeachment, requiring a two-thirds majority of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to be present and voting for the same.

Compensation

As per the Election Commission (Condition Of Service Of Election Commissions And Transaction Of Business) Act, 1991, the salary of the chief election commissioner is the same as salary of a judge of Supreme Court of India. The CEC draws a monthly salary of plus allowances.

List of chief election commissioners

The following have held the post of the chief election commissioner of India.

Reforms

The Election Commission of India was a single member body till 1989 when two election commissioners were appointed to aid the chief election commissioner. While the office has always been an important one in the machinery of the Indian political process, it gained significant public attention during the tenure of T.N. Seshan, from 1990 to 1996. Seshan is widely credited with enforcing the powers of the election commission strongly and undertaking a zealous effort to end corruption and manipulation in Indian elections.

In June 2012, former deputy prime minister and former leader of the opposition in Indian Parliament, Lal Krishna Advani, suggested that appointment of CEC (as well as the comptroller and auditor general (CAG)) should be made by a bipartisan collegium consisting of the prime minister, the chief justice, the law minister and the leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. As per Advani, the demand was to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness because the existent system was open to manipulation and partisanship. Subsequently, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, also supported the suggestion. Similar recommendations were made by former CEC's such as B B Tandon, N Gopalaswamy and S Y Quraishi.

References

References

1. "Gyanesh Kumar appointed 26th Chief Election Commissioner". The Times of India.
2. (10 August 2023). "Bill introduced to remove CJI from panel to select Election Commissioners". The Hindu.
3. (14 February 2025). "PM Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi to meet on Feb 17 to name CEC Rajiv Kumar’s successor". The Hindu.
4. "Table of Precedence". Ministry of Home Affairs.
5. "Election, FAQ". Government of India.
6. (13 February 2024). "SC refuses to stay new law on appointment of CEC and ECs, issues notice to Centre". [[The Economic Times]].
7. "Election Commission (Condition Of Service Of Election Commissions And Transaction Of Business) Act, 1991". Vakil No. 1.
8. "The High Court and Supreme Court Judges Salaries and Conditions of Service Amendment Bill 2008". PRS India.
9. "Former Chief Election Commissioners". [[Election Commission of India]].
10. "Election Commission of India".
11. (3 July 2017). "India's new Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti to take charge on 6 July".
12. (21 January 2018). "Om Prakash Rawat to succeed AK Joti as new Chief Election Commissioner".
13. (2018-11-26). "President Kovind appoints Sunil Arora as new Chief Election Commissioner".
14. (2018-12-02). "Sunil Arora takes over as Chief Election Commissioner, will oversee 2019 polls".
15. (12 April 2021). "Sushil Chandra appointed Chief Election Commissioner". The Hindu.
16. (15 May 2022). "Rajiv Kumar takes charge as 25th Chief Election Commissioner, says EC won't shy away from tough calls". The Hindu.
17. (18 February 2014). "Gyanesh Kumar appointed next chief election commissioner". [[The Hindustan Times]].
18. (12 May 2012). "The more you kick me...". Business Standard.
19. (1 May 2014). "The man who cleaned up India's elections". Gulf News.
20. (5 March 2012). "Empowering the EC". Zee News.
21. "Members Bioprofile". Lok Sabha of India/National Informatics Centre, New Delhi.
22. (5 June 2012). "KA2". [[The Times of India]].
23. (5 June 2012). "Karunanidhi backs Advani's plea for collegium". [[The Hindu]].
24. (16 July 2012). "SYQ". [[The Times of India]].
25. (10 June 2012). "Ex-CECs backed collegium, Law Ministry not too keen". [[The Indian Express]].