States Election Commission (India) is an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

and

Constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

body constituted in

States and Union Territories of India India is a federalism, federal union comprising 28 federated state, states and 8 union territory, union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 List of districts ...

for ensuring that

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

are conducted in free, fair and unbiased way.

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

with provisions as per Article 324 safeguards the powers of

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

. States Election Commission in India are responsible for elections for Urban Local Bodies like

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Municipal Corporations Municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ow ...

, Panchayats and any other specified by

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

. They are appointed by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of state.

History and administration

State Election Commission in India for respective states were formed in accordance with powers of Election Commission of India, which was constituted in year 1950 to supervise state level elections. State election commissioner is appointed by Governor. To ensure the autonomy of the position the state election commissioner cannot be removed from office except on the grounds and manner specified for

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of High Court.

Responsibilities

States Election Commission in India are responsible for the following: * Conducting elections for

in State. * Conducting elections for

in State. * Conducting elections for Panchayati Raj Institutions: village panchayats, block panchayats, and district panchayats. * Model code of conduct implemented in elections for local bodies. * Updating Electoral rolls with new additions. * Updating Electoral rolls with removals, if any.

Structure

The State Election Commissioner is the head of the commission and is assisted by additional commissioners and secretaries. At the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

level, the conduct and supervision of the elections are the responsibility of the

district collector The district magistrate, also known as the district collector or deputy commissioner, is a career civil servant who serves as the executive head of a district's administration in India. The specific name depends on the state or union territo ...

district magistrate The district magistrate, also known as the district collector or deputy commissioner, is a career civil servant who serves as the executive head of a district's administration in India. The specific name depends on the state or union territo ...

. The Collector is assisted by various government department officials at the time of the election. The returning officer (RO), assistant returning officer (ARO), and booth-level officer (BLO) are the other officials, respectively.

Composition

State Election Commission consists of Chief Electoral Officer and as many members and staff specified as are required by the Acts of respective State Governments. State Election Commissioners are independent persons not holding position or office in any Central or State Government organisations.

Constitutional requirements

State Election Commission was formed after amendment of Constitution with 73rd and 74th declaration. State Election Commissions were formed as per Article 243K of the Constitution, similar to setting up of Election commission of India as per Article 324.

List of state election commissions

Following is the list of Election Commissions for each state and union territory in India:

References

{{Reflist

External links

official website

official website