Election Commission of India: Article 324, CEC Appointment, Powers

The Election Commission of India is the constitutional body that conducts elections to Parliament, State Legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President of India. Set up under Article 324 of the Constitution, the Election Commission of India is the institutional reason a country of 970 million voters can hold a general election that the world treats as legitimate. The Election Commission of India is independent of the executive in the same constitutional sense as the statutory-constitutional-bodies-overview family — the cag-comptroller-auditor-general, the finance-commission-of-india, and the UPSC — but its political visibility is by far the highest.

The body was single-member for most of its history. It became a three-member commission permanently from 1 October 1993 after a brief 1989 experiment, with a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners enjoying equal powers and deciding by majority. The Supreme Court’s 2 March 2023 ruling in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India unsettled the appointment process; Parliament responded with the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which now governs how the panel is filled.

This explainer walks through the constitutional architecture, the multi-member structure, the 2023 Act, the Anoop Baranwal verdict, the operational powers of the Election Commission of India, the Model Code of Conduct, and the recent controversies around the institution.

Quick Facts on the Election Commission of India

• Constitutional article. Article 324, Part XV.
• Structure. Multi-member since 1 October 1993 — Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
• Tenure. 6 years or 65 years, whichever earlier.
• Appointment. By President on recommendation of a Selection Committee — Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and a Cabinet Minister nominated by PM (CEC Act, 2023).
• Removal of CEC. Like a Supreme Court judge — address of both Houses with special majority.
• Removal of ECs. Only on recommendation of CEC.
• Status. Equivalent to a Supreme Court judge in salary and conditions.
• Headquarters. Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi.

Article 324 — The Constitutional Foundation

Article 324(1) places “the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President” in the Election Commission of India. The phrase “superintendence, direction and control” has been read by the Supreme Court — from Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner (1978) onwards — as a residual plenary power that lets the Commission fill gaps in election law.

Article 324(2) leaves the size of the Commission to Parliament; Article 324(5) prescribes the tenure protections — the CEC cannot be removed except in the manner of a Supreme Court judge, and conditions cannot be varied to disadvantage after appointment.

Article 325 prohibits separate electoral rolls on the basis of religion, race, caste, or sex; Article 326 mandates universal adult suffrage from age 18 (lowered from 21 by the 61st Constitutional Amendment in 1988); Articles 327 and 328 distribute the legislative power over elections between Parliament and State Legislatures.

From Single-Member to Multi-Member

For most of independent India’s history the Election Commission of India was a single-member body — only the Chief Election Commissioner. T.N. Seshan’s tenure (1990-1996) as CEC was the high-water mark of the single-member model. The Government of India, partly in reaction to Seshan’s perceived overreach, made the Commission multi-member in October 1989, retracted that in January 1990, and then made it permanently multi-member from 1 October 1993 by amending the CEC Act. The Supreme Court in T.N. Seshan v. Union of India (1995) upheld the multi-member structure.

Today, the three members — CEC plus two ECs — sit as equals. Article 324(3) provides that when the Commission is multi-member, the CEC acts as Chairman; Section 10 of the CEC Act provides that any business is transacted by consensus, failing which by majority of votes. The CEC has no casting vote and no overriding authority.

Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India, 2023

For over seven decades the Election Commissioners of the Election Commission of India were appointed by the President on the sole advice of the Council of Ministers — effectively, by the Prime Minister. Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India, decided 2 March 2023 by a five-judge Constitution Bench, held this practice constitutionally unsustainable. The Court ruled that until Parliament made a law under Article 324(2), the CEC and ECs would be appointed by the President on the advice of a three-member committee — the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.

The judgment did not amend Article 324; it filled the gap that the framers had left to Parliament. The Court was explicit that Parliament could legislate to replace this interim arrangement.

The CEC and Other ECs Act, 2023

Parliament responded later in 2023 with the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. The Act provides for a Selection Committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or leader of the largest Opposition party), and a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. A Search Committee chaired by the Law Minister shortlists five candidates from a panel of serving or retired Secretaries to the Government of India.

The 2023 Act dropped the Chief Justice of India from the panel that the Supreme Court had inserted in Anoop Baranwal. The change has been challenged before the Supreme Court. The Act also pegs the salary and conditions of the CEC and ECs to those of the Cabinet Secretary, a slight downgrade from the earlier equivalence with Supreme Court judges.

Functions of the Election Commission of India

Operationally, the Election Commission of India runs four broad streams of work.

Electoral roll preparation and revision

Section 13CC of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, places electoral registration officers and assistant electoral registration officers under the discipline and control of the Election Commission of India. The Commission revises rolls every year (a summary revision) and intensively before each general election.

Conduct of elections

The Commission notifies elections, sets the schedule, deploys central forces, accredits observers, conducts polling and counting, and declares results. It uses the Electronic Voting Machine with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail across all general and assembly elections.

Recognition of parties and symbol allotment

Under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 — issued under Article 324 — the Commission recognises national and state parties and allots reserved symbols. Splits and mergers, like the 2022-23 Shiv Sena dispute and the 2023-24 NCP split, are also decided by the Commission.

Disqualification advice

Under Article 103 (Parliament) and Article 192 (State Legislatures), the President or Governor refers disqualification questions to the Election Commission of India and acts on its opinion. The Commission also adjudicates disqualification under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Model Code of Conduct

The Model Code of Conduct is a set of behavioural norms for political parties and candidates that the Election Commission of India enforces from the date of election announcement to the declaration of results. The MCC is not statutory — it is an executive document born of an all-party agreement — yet its enforcement under Article 324’s residual powers has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

The MCC covers general conduct (no appeals to caste, communal sentiment, no personal attacks), meetings, processions, polling day rules, the party in power (no announcements likely to influence voters, no use of official machinery for partisan purposes), and the election manifesto. The Election Commission of India can warn, censure, defer announcements, and in some cases bar candidates from campaigning for set periods.

Recent Controversies

The Election Commission of India has been at the centre of three concurrent debates in recent years. First, the question of “level playing field” — Opposition complaints about delayed action on alleged MCC violations during the 2024 general election. Second, the legal challenge to the 2023 Act on the ground that excluding the Chief Justice of India from the Selection Committee allows executive dominance over an institution meant to oversee elections to the executive. Third, the operational debate over the security and verifiability of Electronic Voting Machines and the adequacy of VVPAT verification, which the Supreme Court addressed in the 26 April 2024 ADR judgment.

Underlying all three is the question of whether the procedural and structural protections of Article 324 still produce real independence in a media environment, technology environment, and political environment very different from the 1950s.

Election Commission of India in the Constitutional Family

The Election Commission of India is one of three constitutional bodies whose independence is the precondition for federalism and constitutional democracy itself. With the cag-comptroller-auditor-general auditing public money and the finance-commission-of-india distributing it, the Election Commission of India holds the third leg of the stool — it decides who gets to spend it. Reform of its appointment process, therefore, sits at the intersection of constitutional law and electoral integrity.

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