Watch Free Classes
  • Constitutional Bodies- Election Commission of India (ECI)
  • Constitutional bodies are formed under the Indian constitution itself
  • The power and authority for these bodies are vested in the Indian constitution  
  • The other bodies can be called as non-Constitutional bodies, two types of which are: Statutory bodies and non-statutory bodies
  • Statutory bodies are the bodies/ organizations that are defined by a formal law

Election Commission of India (ECI):

  1. Part XV of the Indian Constitution deals with elections and establishes a commission for these matters. Article 324 to 329 of the Constitution describes the powers, function, tenure, eligibility, etc. of the commission and the member. 
  2. Article 324 deals with the Election Commission. It prescribes that the power of superintendence, direction, and control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of President of India, and the office of vice-President of India shall be vested in the election commission of India.
  3. It should be noted here that the election commission is not concerned with the elections to Panchayats and Municipalities in the states. For this, the Constitution of India offers for a separate State Election Commission.
  4. The Election Commission is a permanent and autonomous body. 
  5. The Election Commission has been functioning as a multi-member body including three election commissioners. The Chief Election Commissioner and the 2 other election commissioners have equivalent powers and receive equal salaries, allowances, and other perquisites, which are similar to those of a judge of the Supreme Court. 
  6. The President employs both the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners.
  7. They hold office for a tenure of six years or until they achieve the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
  8. The conditions of service and term of office of the election commissioners and the regional commissioners might be determined by the President.
  9. The Chief Election Commissioner is offered the security of tenure. He might not be removed from his office except in a similar manner and on the same grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court.
  10. The Constitution has not described the term of office and the qualifications (legal, educational, administrative, or judicial) of the members of the Election Commission.
  11. The Constitution has not barred the retiring election commissioners from any further appointment by the government.

Powers and Functions:

  1. The most important purpose of the commission is to decide the election schedules for the conduct of periodic and timely elections, whether general or bye-elections.
  2. It creates an electoral roll, and issues electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC).
  3. It decides on the places of polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centers, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centers, and all associated subjects.
  4. It gives recognition to political parties and allot election symbols to them along with settling disputes related to it.
  5. The Commission also has advisory jurisdiction on the subject of post-election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures.
  6. It describes the implementation-Model Code of Conduct during election for political parties and candidates so that no one indulges in unfair practice or there is no arbitrary abuse of powers by those in power. 
  7. It assigns the campaign expenditure per candidate to all the political parties and also monitors the same.
  8. The commission holds the power to disqualify the members of the parliament and state legislatures on the suggestion of the advisory committee. 
Conclusion

Protected bodies are the bodies set up under the Constitution of India. These are the bodies that are referenced in the constitution of India and are considered as free and all the more remarkable. Since they get their power from the Indian Constitution, any adjustment of the instrument of the protected bodies would require a sacred change.

Protected bodies are not quite the same as legal bodies are made by the request for law and Constitutional bodies infer their powers and specialists from the Constitution of India.

The Commission has been given abilities for deciding the regional region of the electing electorates, getting ready electing rolls, telling the dates and timetables of decisions, giving acknowledgment to ideological groups, assigning political race images to parties, deciding the general set of rules in the midst of races and so on.