List of Chief Election Commissioners of India

List of Chief Election Commissioners of India

Chief Election Commissioners of India is one of the important topics in Static General Knowledge.

CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS OF INDIA


What is Election Commission of India?

Election Commission of India

  • The Constitution under Article 324 provides for an election commission for the superintendence, direction, and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for the conduct of elections to parliament, state legislatures and to the officers of the president and vice president.
  • The election commission is responsible for both the centers and the state’s elections.

Composition and Appointments

  • The body is comprised of a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
  • The President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners.
  • The concept of multi-member Commission has been in operation since 1993, before that the commission only had a Chief Election Commissioner.
  • The Election Commissioner is assisted by the Deputy Election Commissioner at the time of the election.

Salary

  • They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India.
  • The salary is drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Tenure

They have a tenure of 6 years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Key Functions and Powers of Election Commission of India

  • Division of constituencies.
  • Preparing up-to-date lists of all valid voters.
  • Determine territories of the electoral constituencies and allot seats to each of them.
  • Recognition of political parties and party symbol allocation.
  • Notify dates and schedules of elections.
  • To fix Code of Conduct which must be observed at the time of the election.
  • Scrutiny of Nomination Papers.
  • Determine the number of polling booths required.
  • Fix and limit the election expenses.
  • Conduct and supervise elections and by-elections.
  • Scrutinize election expenses accounts submitted by the contestants.
  • Declare the election results.
  • Settle down disputes referred by the President.
  • Advising the President on the question of disqualification of any Member of Parliament or advising the Governor on the question of disqualification of a member of a State legislature.

Removal

The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament.

New Initiatives and Reforms

The Commission has brought several reforms in the electoral processes. A few are summarized below

  • Facility of use of state-owned Electronic Media for broadcast/telecast by political parties.
  • Checking criminalization of politics.
  • Computerization of electoral rolls.
  • Providing voters with Identity Cards.
  • Simplifying the accounts maintenance and filling procedures by candidates.
  • A variety of measures for strict compliance of Model Code of Conduct to conduct fair elections.
  • None of the above” button: In 2013, SC passed a landmark judgment, approving the ‘Right to Negative Vote’ by exercising the NOTA option in EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and ballots. The NOTA option has been in use since November 2013.

 List of Chief Election Commissioners of India        

S No

Name Took Office

Left Office

1 Sukumar Sen 21 March 1950 19 December 1958
2 Kalyan Sundaram 20 December 1958 30 September 1967
3 SP Sen Verma 1 October 1967 30 September 1972
4 Nagendra Singh 1 October 1972 6 February 1973
5 T. Swaminathan 7 February 1973 17 June 1977
6 S. L. Shakdhar 18 June 1977 17 June 1982
7 R. K. Trivedi 18 June 1982 31 December 1985
8 R. V. S. Peri Sastri 1 January 1986 25 November 1990
9 VS Ramadevi 26 November 1990 11 December 1990
10 T. N. Seshan 12 December 1990 11 December 1996
11 M. S. Gill 12 December 1996 13 June 2001
12 J. M. Lyngdoh 14 June 2001 7 February 2004
13 T. S. Krishnamurthy 8 February 2004 15 May 2005
14 T. S. Krishnamurthy 16 May 2005 29 June 2006
15 N. Gopalaswami 30 June 2006 20 April 2009
16 Navin Chawla 21 April 2009 29 July 2010
17 S. Y. Quraishi 30 July 2010 10 June 2012
18 V. S. Sampath 11 June 2012 15 January 2015
19 H. S. Brahma 16 January 2015 18 April 2015
20 Nasim Zaidi 19 April 2015 5 July 2017
21 Achal Kumar Jyoti 6 July 2017 22 January 2018
22 Om Prakash Rawat 23 January 2018 01 December 2018
23 Sunil Arora 02 December 2018 Incumbent

Did You Know?

Ashok Lavasa is the current Election Commissioner of India.


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