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. The selection process of the Election Commission is dominated by the government, which has implications for its independence following amendment in 2023.
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 the comptroller and auditor general of India.
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. 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.
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. The senior most member of the election commission is appointed as the chief election commissioner by the president.
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.
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.
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. The CEC draws a monthly salary of plus allowances.
List of chief election commissioners The following have held the post of the chief election commissioner of India.
S.No. Name Portrait Assumed Office Left Office Time in Office 1Sukumar Sen 21 March 195019 December 1958 2Kalyan Sundaram20 December 195830 September 1967 3S. P. Sen Verma1 October 196730 September 1972 4Nagendra Singh1 October 19726 February 1973 5T. Swaminathan7 February 197317 June 1977 6S. L. Shakdhar18 June 197717 June 1982 7R. K. Trivedi18 June 198231 December 1985 8R. V. S. Peri Sastri1 January 198625 November 19909V. S. Ramadevi26 November 199011 December 199016 days10T. N. Seshan12 December 199011 December 19966 years11M. S. Gill12 December 199613 June 20014 years 69 days12J. M. Lyngdoh14 June 20017 February 20042 years 269 days13T. S. Krishnamurthy8 February 200415 May 20051 year 69 days14B. B. Tandon16 May 200529 June 2006269 days15N. Gopalaswami30 June 200620 April 200916Navin Chawla21 April 200929 July 20101 year 89 days17S. Y. Quraishi30 July 201010 June 20121 year 316 days18V. S. Sampath11 June 201215 January 20152 year 218 days19Harishankar Brahma16 January 201518 April 201592 days20Nasim Zaidi19 April 20155 July 20172 years 77 days21Achal Kumar Jyoti6 July 201722 January 201822Om Prakash Rawat23 January 20181 December 201823Sunil Arora2 December 2018 12 April 202124Sushil Chandra 13 April 202114 May 202225Rajiv Kumar15 May 202218 February 202526Gyanesh Kumar19 February 2025Incumbent
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. 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. 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.
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. 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. Subsequently, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, also supported the suggestion. Similar recommendations were made by former CEC's such as B B Tandon, N Gopalaswamy and S Y Quraishi.
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