Chief Election Commissioner of India

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Chief Election Commissioner of India
Emblem of India.svg
Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar.jpg
Incumbent
Gyanesh Kumar [1]
since 19 February 2025
Election Commission of India
TypeChief Election Commissioner
StatusHead of the Election Commission of India
Nominator Union Council of Ministers
Appointer President of India
Term length 6 years or up to 65 years of age
(whichever is prior)
Inaugural holder Sukumar Sen
Deputy Election Commissioners of India
Deputy Election Commissioners of India
Salary₹250,000 (US$3,000) per month [2] [3]
Website Election Commission of India

The Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. An election commissioner is appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a three-member selection committee headed by the prime minister and consisting of the leader of the opposition and a Union Cabinet minister. [4] [5]

Contents

The term of a CEC can be a maximum of six years or until they attain sixty-five years of age. The chief election commissioner is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service.

The Chief Election Commissioner is placed at 9A position in the Order of precedence in India along with the Chairperson of Union Public Service Commission and Comptroller and Auditor General of India. [6]

Role and powers

Chief election commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national legislature, state legislatures, president and vice-president. This power of the Election Commission of India is derived from the Article 324 of the Constitution of India. [7] The chief election commissioner is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service. The Election Commission of India consists of a chief election commissioner and two election commissioners. The chief election commissioner does not have overruling powers and any decision is taken by the opinion of the majority among the three. [7]

Appointment and term of office

The appointment and term of the chief election commissioner are prescribed in the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. As per Section 7 of the act, an election commissioner is appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of a selection committee headed by the prime minister and consisting of the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and a member of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the prime minister. [8] The senior most member of the election commission is appointed as the chief election commissioner by the president. [7]

The term of the CEC can be a maximum of six years from the date on which they assume their office. However, the CEC retires from office if they attain the age of sixty-five years before the expiry of the term. [7]

The CEC can be removed from the office through the process of impeachment, requiring a two-thirds majority of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to be present and voting for the same. [7]

Compensation

As per the Election Commission (Condition Of Service Of Election Commissions And Transaction Of Business) Act, 1991, the salary of the chief election commissioner is the same as salary of a judge of Supreme Court of India. [2] The CEC draws a monthly salary of ₹250,000 (US$3,000) plus allowances. [2] [3]

List of chief election commissioners

The following have held the post of the chief election commissioner of India. [9]

No.NamePortraitTerm of office
1 Sukumar Sen Sukumar Sen.jpg 21 March 195019 December 19588 years, 273 days
2 Kalyan Sundaram 20 December 195830 September 19678 years, 284 days
3 S. P. Sen Verma 1 October 196730 September 19724 years, 365 days
4 Nagendra Singh 1 October 19726 February 1973128 days
5 T. Swaminathan 7 February 197317 June 19774 years, 10 days
6 S. L. Shakdhar 18 June 197717 June 19824 years, 364 days
7 R. K. Trivedi 18 June 198231 December 19853 years, 196 days
8 R. V. S. Peri Sastri 1 January 198625 November 19904 years, 328 days
9 V. S. Ramadevi VS RamaDevi.jpg 26 November 199011 December 199016

days

10 T. N. Seshan T.N. Seshan in 1994.jpg 12 December 199011 December 19966 years
11 M. S. Gill Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports, Dr. M.S. Gill.jpg 12 December 199613 June 20014 years 69 days
12 J. M. Lyngdoh J.M. Lyngdoh.png 14 June 20017 February 20042 years 269 days
13 T. S. Krishnamurthy The Chief Election Commissioner Shri T. S. Krishna Murthy delivering the keynote address on "Media Coverage of Election in India towards Free and Fair Elections" at a function organised by Centre for Advocacy and Research (cropped).jpg 8 February 200415 May 20051 year 69 days
14 B. B. Tandon Shri B.B. Tandon in his office after assuming the charge as the Chief Election Commissioner of India in New Delhi on May 16, 2005.jpg 16 May 200529 June 2006269 days
15 N. Gopalaswami The Chief Election Commissioner, Shri N. Gopalaswami announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, at a Press Conference, in New Delhi on March 02, 2009 (cropped).jpg 30 June 200620 April 20092 years, 294 days
16 Navin Chawla Election Commissioner Shri Navin. B. Chawla releasing Landmark Judgments on Election Law at a meeting with Chief Electoral Officers of all the States, in New Delhi on June 28, 2006 (cropped).jpg 21 April 200929 July 20101 year 89 days
17 S. Y. Quraishi Dr. S.Y. Quraishi taking charge as the Chief Election Commissioner of India, in New Delhi on July 30, 2010 (cropped).jpg 30 July 201010 June 20121 year 316 days
18 V. S. Sampath Shri V. S. Sampath assuming the charge of the Election Commissioner, in New Delhi on April, 21, 2009.jpg 11 June 201215 January 20152 year 218 days
19 Harishankar Brahma The Chief Election Commissioner, Shri H.S. Bramha addressing a Curtain Raiser Press Conference on the project of seeding of Aadhar with Electoral Roll database, in New Delhi on February 26, 2015 (cropped).jpg 16 January 201518 April 201592 days
20 Nasim Zaidi Dr. Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi assumes the charge as the Election Commissioner of India, in New Delhi on August 07, 2012.jpg 19 April 2015 [10] 5 July 20172 years 77 days
21 Achal Kumar Jyoti Shri Achal Kumar Joti taking charge as the Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC), in New Delhi on July 06, 2017 (1) (cropped).jpg 6 July 2017 [11] 22 January 2018200 days
22 Om Prakash Rawat Shri Om Prakash Rawat (cropped).jpg 23 January 2018 [12] 1 December 2018312 days
23 Sunil Arora Media address by Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri Sunil Arora on 2nd December 2018 (cropped).jpg 2 December 2018 [13] [14] 12 April 20212 years, 131 days
24 Sushil Chandra Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner of India (cropped).jpg 13 April 2021 [15] 14 May 20221 year, 31 days
25 Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar (cropped).jpg 15 May 2022 [16] 18 February 20252 years, 279 days
26 Gyanesh Kumar
Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar.jpg
19 February 2025 [17] Incumbent200 days

Reforms

The Election Commission of India was a single member body till 1989 when two election commissioners were appointed to aid the chief election commissioner. [7] While the office has always been an important one in the machinery of the Indian political process, it gained significant public attention during the tenure of T.N. Seshan, from 1990 to 1996. [18] Seshan is widely credited with enforcing the powers of the election commission strongly and undertaking a zealous effort to end corruption and manipulation in Indian elections. [19] [20]

In June 2012, former deputy prime minister and former leader of the opposition in Indian Parliament, Lal Krishna Advani, suggested that appointment of CEC (as well as the comptroller and auditor general (CAG)) should be made by a bipartisan collegium consisting of the prime minister, the chief justice, the law minister and the leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. [21] [22] As per Advani, the demand was to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness because the existent system was open to manipulation and partisanship. [22] [23] Subsequently, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, also supported the suggestion. [23] Similar recommendations were made by former CEC's such as B B Tandon, N Gopalaswamy and S Y Quraishi. [24] [25]

References

  1. ↑ "Gyanesh Kumar appointed 26th Chief Election Commissioner". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Election Commission (Condition Of Service Of Election Commissions And Transaction Of Business) Act, 1991". Vakil No. 1. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 "The High Court and Supreme Court Judges Salaries and Conditions of Service Amendment Bill 2008" (PDF). PRS India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Chakrabarty, Sreeparna (10 August 2023). "Bill introduced to remove CJI from panel to select Election Commissioners". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  5. ↑ Chakrabarty, Sreeparna (14 February 2025). "PM Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi to meet on Feb 17 to name CEC Rajiv Kumar's successor". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  6. ↑ "Table of Precedence" (PDF). mha.gov.in. Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Election, FAQ". Government of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "SC refuses to stay new law on appointment of CEC and ECs, issues notice to Centre". The Economic Times . 13 February 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "Former Chief Election Commissioners". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "Election Commission of India". ECI.nic.in. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  11. ↑ Borgohain, Sonalee, ed. (3 July 2017). "India's new Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti to take charge on 6 July". India Today . Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  12. ↑ "Om Prakash Rawat to succeed AK Joti as new Chief Election Commissioner". The Indian Express . New Delhi. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  13. ↑ "President Kovind appoints Sunil Arora as new Chief Election Commissioner". 26 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  14. ↑ "Sunil Arora takes over as Chief Election Commissioner, will oversee 2019 polls". 2 December 2018.
  15. ↑ Nath, Damini (12 April 2021). "Sushil Chandra appointed Chief Election Commissioner". The Hindu.
  16. ↑ "Rajiv Kumar takes charge as 25th Chief Election Commissioner, says EC won't shy away from tough calls". The Hindu. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  17. ↑ "Gyanesh Kumar appointed next chief election commissioner". The Hindustan Times . 18 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  18. ↑ Narasimhan, T. E. (12 May 2012). "The more you kick me..." Business Standard. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  19. ↑ Das, Sanjib Kumar (1 May 2014). "The man who cleaned up India's elections". Gulf News. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  20. ↑ Srivastava, Ritesh K.(The Observer) (5 March 2012). "Empowering the EC". Zee News. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  21. ↑ "Members Bioprofile". Lok Sabha of India/National Informatics Centre, New Delhi. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  22. 1 2 "KA2". The Times of India . 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  23. 1 2 "Karunanidhi backs Advani's plea for collegium". The Hindu . Chennai. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  24. ↑ "SYQ". The Times of India . 16 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  25. ↑ "Ex-CECs backed collegium, Law Ministry not too keen". The Indian Express . 10 June 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
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