Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a permanent, independent constitutional authority created by Article 324 of the Constitution, which vests in it the "superintendence, direction and control" of the entire electoral process for Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. It came into existence on 25 January 1950, the day before the Constitution commenced — a date now observed as National Voters' Day. The Commission's powers, functions, and conduct of elections are further governed by the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (electoral rolls and constituency machinery) and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (actual conduct of elections, qualifications, disqualifications, and corrupt practices). Election to local bodies (panchayats and municipalities) lies outside the ECI's mandate and is handled by State Election Commissions under Articles 243K and 243ZA.

The ECI originally functioned as a single-member body but was made multi-member from 1 October 1993, and today comprises the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners who enjoy equal status, with decisions taken by majority. Appointments are governed by the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which replaced the earlier executive procedure after the Supreme Court's Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023) ruling; the selection committee comprises the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a Union Cabinet Minister. The CEC can be removed only by the parliamentary process applicable to a Supreme Court judge (impeachment under Articles 124(4) and 324(5)), while the two Commissioners are removable only on the CEC's recommendation — a structural asymmetry the Court flagged in T.N. Seshan v. Union of India (1995), which nonetheless upheld the multi-member design.

In practice the ECI prepares and revises electoral rolls, notifies election schedules, allots symbols, registers and recognises political parties, enforces the Model Code of Conduct (a non-statutory but binding convention that operationalises on the date of poll announcement), and adjudicates disputes over symbol claims under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. Landmark interventions include the introduction of EVMs (used nationwide from 2004), the mandatory NOTA option following PUCL v. Union of India (2013), and VVPAT verification. As of 2026 the Commission continues nationwide use of EVMs with VVPAT and administers the world's largest electorate of over 960 million registered voters.

For the UPSC examination, the ECI is core GS Paper II material under "constitutional bodies" and "appointment to and functioning of statutory and quasi-judicial bodies." Typical question angles contrast its constitutional status with statutory bodies, probe the removal-procedure asymmetry between the CEC and Commissioners, ask candidates to evaluate the 2023 appointment law against the Anoop Baranwal judgment, or test the distinction between the ECI and State Election Commissions. Prelims frequently tests Article 324, the 1993 multi-member conversion, and the Model Code of Conduct's non-statutory character.