Election Commission of India

Introduction 

The ECI or the Election Commission of India can be regarded as a constitutional body that was established by the Indian constitution to carry out as well as regulate elections within the country. Article 324 under the constitution states that direction, superintendence, state legislature, control of elections for the parliament, the office of India’s president, and control of parliament elections shall be controlled by the Election Commission. Hence, the Election Commission of India is defined as a body that is present all over India in the sense that it is common to state government as well as Central government.

Structure of Election Commission of India

The election commission of India was founded in 1950 and initially, it had a single chief election commissioner. However, on 16th October of 1989, two more commissioners were appointed under the commission, But they had an exceptionally short tenure which ended on January 1st of 1990. Next, the Amendment Act for the Election Commission was adopted on January 1 of 1989. Through this Act, the commission was transformed into a multi-member body. After that, a commission consisting of three members has been in operation. It should also be mentioned that after the adoption of this act all the important decisions have been made through a majority of the vote. The 2 election commissioners (normally IAS officers who have retired along with the chief election commissioner draw their allowances and salaries along with the judges of India’s supreme court. In this context, it should also be mentioned that the election commission of India was served by the secretariat that is currently situated in New Delhi. The commissioners within the election are generally assisted by deputy election commissioners. These deputy election commissioners are normally IAS officers. Deputy election commissioners are again assisted by Principal secretaries, Directors general, Secretaries as well as undersecretaries. 

The function of the Election Commission of India

An important feature of India’s democratic policy is to carry out elections at usual intervals. Holding, fair, free and periodic elections are important for a proper democratic system and a normal part of the election commission. Often it can be seen that the election commission is described as the authoritarian body that guides elections throughout India. In each election, a model code of conduct is issued for candidates and political parties to carry out elections in a fair and free manner. The code of conduct was first issued in 1971. This was during the 5th yearly Lok sabha elections. It contains guidelines that should be followed by candidates and political parties during the time of election. However, over time there have been such instances when the code of conduct has been violated. These violations have mostly been conducted by the political parties and complaints have been received regarding the misuse of different official machinery by several candidates. It should also be mentioned that the code of conduct does not necessarily have any particular statutory basis, but has some persuasive effect. The rules for traditional electoral morality are present within it. However, the commission is not stopped from enforcing it due to the lack of any particular statutory backing. 

Election Commission of India identity card

To prevent electoral fraud, the Electoral Photo identity cards or EPIC were introduced in 1993. Although issued in 1993, the electoral commission of India’s identity card became mandatory by the elections in 2004. However, it should be mentioned that some other forms of identity cards have been allowed sometimes for election purposes. Particularly, the ration card has been seen to be allowed. 

Conclusion

The entire article has been written on the core topic of the election commission of India. The election commission of India acts as a guiding body, controlling elections throughout the country. The topic of the election commission of India is vital in the subject of Legal Reasoning and should not be ignored. The topic of the election commission of India has been further discussed through assessment of the structure of the election commission of India, the function of the election commission of India, and the election commission of India identity card.