The Election Commission of India — variously called the Election Commission, the ECI or EC — was set up in 1950 as an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for carrying out election processes in India. It administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and the offices of the President and Vice President.
Headquartered in Delhi, the Election Commission consists of three members — a chief election commissioner and two other commissioners — who are appointed by the President. They have a tenure of six years or until they reach the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The Election Commission prepares, maintains, and updates the electoral roll; supervises the nomination of candidates; registers political parties and classifies them on national and state levels; and monitors election campaigns, including political fund-raising.
Not many Indians hear the “ eloquence of silence “ from this most august body, for several weeks tantamount to almost a neutral, caretaker government for the country. It is inconceivable for a judgment of a High Court or the Supreme Court to consist of the body of the majority view, keeping hidden from public view the fact that a minority has reached a different finding and the grounds on which it has chosen to do so. But for a leak or an intrepid journalist – certainly not an ace team that defines the new gold standard of the profession – the public would be unaware that one of the three distinguished ECs has, for good and cogent reasons, dissented from the majority. When or how it will happen is difficult to judge, but the ECI must recover its earlier elan and virtue.