Election Commission of India

Why in News?

• Recently, the Supreme Court claimed the government pays lip service to the independence of Election Commissioners, pointing out that Chief Election Commissioners’ terms have fallen from over eight years in the 1950s to less than three hundred days since 2004.

Highlights

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.
• It was established In accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950 (celebrated as national voters’ day). The secretariat of the commission is in New Delhi.
• The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.
• It Is not concerned with the elections to panchayats and municipalities in the states. For this, the Constitution of India provides for a separate State Election Commission.
• Originally the commission had only one election commissioner but after the Election Commissioner Amendment Act 1989, it was made a multi-member body.
• The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and such number of other election commissioners, if any, as the President may from time-to-time fix.
• Presently, it consists of the CEC and two Election Commissioners.
• At the state level, the election commission is helped by the Chief Electoral Officer who is an IAS rank Officer.