Introduction
India is known to be the mother of the democracy. It is the world’s largest democracry too. As India thrives with regular rythm of it’s elctions. It is the Election Commission of India (ECI) which is ensuring the world’s largest festival of democracy. Let’s dive into the epic works done by Election Commission of India.
Table of Contents
What is Election Commission of India (ECI)
Election Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body. The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950. The commission celebrated it’s Golden Jublee in year 2001.The Constitution of India has vested in the Election Commission of India the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and Legislature of every State and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India.
Historic Aspect
The modern Indian nation state came into existence on 15th of August 1947. Since then free and fair elections have been held at continuous intervals as per the principles enshrined in the Constitution, Electoral Laws and System.
Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. It currently consists of Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
For the first time two additional Commissioners were appointed on 16th October 1989 but they had a very short tenure till 1st January 1990. Later, on 1st October 1993 two additional Election Commissioners were appointed. The concept of multi-member Commission has been in operation since then, with decision making power by majority vote.
Chief Election Commissioners of India
| Sr. | Name | Tenure |
| 1. | Sukumar Sen | 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958 |
| 2. | KVK Sundaram | 20 December 1958 to 30 September 1967 |
| 3. | SP Sen Verma | 1 October 1967 to 30 September 1972 |
| 4. | Dr Nagendra Singh | 1 October 1972 to 6 February 1973 |
| 5. | T Swaminathan | 7 February 1973 to 17 June 1977 |
| 6. | SL Shakdhar | 18 June 1977 to 17 June 1982 |
| 7. | RK Trivedi | 18 June 1982 to 31 December 1985 |
| 8. | RVS Peri Sastri | 1 January 1986 to 25 November 1990 |
| 9. | Smt VS Ramadevi | 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990 |
| 10. | TN Seshan | 12 December 1990 to 11 December 1996 |
| 11. | Dr. MS Gill | 12 December 1996 to 13 June 2001 |
| 12. | Mr. J.M. Lyngdoh | 14 June 2001 to 7 Feb 2004 |
| 13. | Mr. T.S. Krishna Murthy | 8 Feb 2004 to 15 May 2005 |
| 14. | Mr. B.B. Tandon | 16 May 2005 to 29 June 2006 |
| 15. | Mr. N. Gopalaswami | 12 December 1996 to 13 June 2001 |
| 16. | Navin B. Chawla | 21 April 2009 to 29 July 2010 |
| 17. | Dr. S.Y.Quraishi | 30 July 2010 to 10 June 2012 |
| 18. | Shri V.S.Sampath | 11 June 2012 to 15 Jan 2015 |
| 19. | Shri. H.S.Brahma | 16 Jan 2015 to 18 April 2015 |
| 20. | Dr. Nasim Zaidi | 19 April 2015 to 05 July 2017 |
| 21. | Sh. A K Joti | 06 July 2017 to 22 January 2018 |
| 22. | Mr. O. P. Rawat | 23 January 2018 to 01 December 2018 |
| 23. | Mr. Sunil Arora | 02 December 2018 to 12 April 2021 |
| 24. | Mr. Sushil Chandra | 13 April 2021 to 14 May 2022 |
| 25. | Rajiv Kumar | 15 May 2022 to till date |
Election Commissioners of India
| Sr. | Name | Tenure |
| 1. | Shri V.S. Seigell | 16.10.1989 to 02.01.1990 |
| 2. | Shri S.S. Dhanoa | 16.10.1989 to 02.01.1990 |
| 3. | Dr. G.V.G. Krishnamurty | 01.10.1993 to 30.09.1999 |
| 4. | Shri Ashok Lavasa | 23.10.2018 to 31.08.2020 |
| 5. | Shri Anup Chandra Pandey | 09.06.2021 to 14.02.2024 |
| 6. | Shri Arun Goel | 21.11.2022 to 09.03.2024 |
| 7. | Shri Gyanesh Kumar | 15.03.2024 to till date |
| 8. | Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu | 15.03.2024 to till date |
Articles related to Elections
| Articles | |
| 324 | Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission. |
| 325 | No person to be ineligible for inclusion in, or to claim to be included in a special, electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex. |
| 326 | Elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of States to be on the basis of adult suffrage. |
| 327 | Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures. |
| 328 | Power of Legislature of a State to make provision with respect to elections to such Legislature. |
| 329 | Bar to interference by courts in electoral matters. |
The Parliament
| THE PARLIAMENT | |||
| Rajya Sabha | Not more than 250 members (243 at present); 12 members are nominated by the President under Article 80 of the Constitution | ||
| Lok Sabha | 543 members plus 2 members of the Anglo-Indian community, nominated by the President under Article 331 of the Constitution | ||
Participation In the Largest Democratic Fest
The very first General Election were held in 1951 with minimum voter partition. in year 2019 the was a maximum voters who caste their vote. The Election Commission of India is working to make people aware toward the voting.
NO. of Seats, Days of Poll and Date of Constitution of Lok Sabha
| Sl.No. | Years of Elections | Number of Seats for which Election were held | Days of Poll | Date of Constitution of Lok Sabha | Lok Sabha |
| 1 | 1951 | 489(401 Constituencies) # | 17 | 02.04.1952 | 1st |
| 2 | 1957 | 494(403 Constituencies) # | 20 | 05.04.1957 | 2nd |
| 3 | 1962 | 494 | 7 | 02.04.1962 | 3rd |
| 4 | 1967 | 520 | 13 | 04.03.1967 | 4th |
| 5 | 1971 | 518 | 9 | 15.03.1971 | 5th |
| 6 | 1977 | 542 | 4 | 23.03.1977 | 6th |
| 7 | 1980 | 529@ | 2 | 10.01.1980 | 7th |
| 8 | 1984-85 | 542 | 3 | 31.12.1984 | 8th |
| 9 | 1989 | 529 | 3 | 02.12.1989 | 9th |
| 10 | 1991-92 | 537$ | 4 | 20.06.1991 | 10th |
| 11 | 1996 | 543 | 3 | 15.05.1996 | 11th |
| 12 | 1998 | 543 | 4 | 10.03.1998 | 12th |
| 13 | 1999 | 543 | 8 | 10.10.1999 | 13th |
| 14 | 2004 | 543 | 4 | 17.05.2004 | 14th |
| 15 | 2009 | 543 | 5 | 18.05.2009 | 15th |
| 16 | 2014 | 543 | 10 | 04.06.2014 | 16th |
| 17 | 2019 | 543 | 7 | 25.05.2019 | 17th |
Lok Sabha Election 2019- A State wise Review
In 2019, most people participated in the voting with minimum of 44.97 % in Jammu-Kashmir region and with maximum of 83.00% in Nagaland.
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