The Election Commissioners of India are the members of Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections in India to the

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and state legislatures. The Election Commissioners are usually retired

IAS IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

officers. Rajiv Kumar is the current 25th Chief Election Commissioner and the other Election Commissioners are Anup Chandra Pandey. and Arun Goel.

History

Originally in 1950, the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. Two additional Commissioners were appointed to the commission for the first time on 16 October 1989 but they hardly settled down with their constitutional work, that the President on January 1, 1990, issued a notification abolishing the post of ECs. The government again made the Election Commission a 3-member body on October 1, 1993. ''The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1989'' made the Commission a multi-member body. The concept of a 3-member Commission has been in operation since then, with the decisions being made by a majority vote. the official website was introduced on 28 February 1998.

Composition

Until October 1989, the commission was a single member body, but later two additional Election Commissioners were added through an act of parliament. Thus, the Election Commission currently consists of a Chief Election Commissioner and two other Election Commissioners. The decisions of the commission are taken by a majority vote.

Removal

The Chief Election Commissioner cannot be removed from his post easily on account of any political reasons. This is necessary so as to preserve the independence of election commission.

Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissioner of India heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures and of President and Vice-President. This power of th ...

can be removed from his office by the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

on the basis of a resolution passed to that effect by both the houses of parliament with a two-thirds majority in both the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

and the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. Other Election Commissioners can be removed by the President of India on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner. A Chief Election Commissioner has never been removed in India. In 2009, just before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami sent a recommendation to the then President

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

to remove Election Commissioner

Navin Chawla Navin Chawla (born 30 July 1945) is a retired Indian civil servant and writer, who served as 16th Chief Election Commissioner of India. Four phases (out of five) of the Indian general election to Loksabha were executed under his supervision in ...

, who was soon to take office as the Chief Election Commissioner and to subsequently supervise the Lok Sabha Election favouring his partisan behaviour in favour of one political party. The president opined that such a recommendation is not binding on the president, and hence rejected it. Subsequently, after Gopalswami's retirement the next month, Chawla became the Chief Election Commissioner and supervised the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections.

Compensation

The Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners who are usually retired IAS officers draw salaries and allowances at par with those of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India as per the ''Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1992''.

References

External links