The Election Commission of India is an
autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and
State election processes in India. 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. The Election Commission
gets its power from the Constitution under article 324.
India is a Socialist, Secular, Democratic
Republic and the largest democracy in the World. The modern Indian nation state
came into existence on 15th of August 1947. Since then free and fair elections
have been held at regular intervals as per the principles enshrined in the
Constitution, Electoral Laws and System. Election
Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body. The Election Commission
was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
Originally
the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. It currently consists of
Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
The Election Commission of India has the
powers under the Constitution. So, it is required to act in a particular manner
when the laws of the Government makes insufficient provisions or judgements to
deal with a specific situation that has aroused in the conduct of an election.
The
Election Commissioner Amendment Act, of 1989 was adopted by the Government on 1
January 1990. This act turned the Commission into a multi-member body. Since
then till now there has been 3-member. Thus, the ECI
operates through a vast number of staff members of around 300 with each state
having a separate chief electoral officer. During general elections, an
enormous team is recruited as temporary workers in order to control and
smoothly conduct the polling. The Election Commission
has divided the country into 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, each of which
returns one MP to the Lok Sabha, (the lower house of the Parliament).
All
the twenty-nine states and two among the seven union territories have their
respective assemblies, the vidhan sabha. The total of thirty-one assemblies
consists of 4120 constituencies.
Election Commission of India
superintendents, direct and control the entire process of conducting elections
to Parliament and Legislature of every State and to the offices of President
and Vice-President of India. The most important function of the commission is
to decide the election schedules for the conduct of periodic and timely
elections, whether general or bye-elections. It prepares electoral roll, issues
Electronic Photo Identity Card (EPIC). It decides on the location polling
stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting
centres, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting
centres and all allied matters. It grants recognition to political parties
& allot election symbols to them along with settling disputes related to
it.
The ECI has been successfully conducting
national as well as state elections since 1952. In recent years, however, the
Commission has started to play the more active role to ensure greater
participation of people. 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.
Considering
the enormous number of citizens present in the country; the ECI has done and
proved to be one of the best commissions in the Indian subcontinent.
