The Election Commission

The office of the Election Commission had been set up in a small way on January 25, 1950. The first Chief Election Commissioner of India was Sukumar Sen, an ICS officer, who assumed office on March 21, 1950. Although the Constitution provides for the appointment of other members of the Election Commission as and when necessary, for long after India became a republic the commission was a single-member one.

The Election Commission of India is a permanent constitutional body, established in accordance with the Constitution. It has been made independent of the government

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of the day. Under Article 324, the Election Commission of India has been vested with the power of the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and legislature of every state and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India. The Election Commission had to do a lot of ground work before the first polls were held.