Institution
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India is the permanent constitutional body that runs the country's elections. Under Article 324 of the Constitution it holds the superintendence, direction and control of the electoral rolls and of elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. A three-member commission — a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners with equal powers — it also enforces the Model Code of Conduct once polls are called. It is the referee of Indian democracy, and its independence is the institution's central claim.
Updated
- Established
- 25 January 1950
- Constitutional basis
- Article 324
- Composition
- Chief Election Commissioner + 2 Election Commissioners
- Appointments
- Selection Committee under the 2023 Act
- Chief Election Commissioner (current)
- Gyanesh Kumar, since February 2025
Role
The Election Commission of India is the independent constitutional authority that conducts India’s elections. Article 324 vests in it the “superintendence, direction and control” of the preparation of the electoral rolls and of all elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. Its statutory machinery comes from the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951. Once an election is announced, the Commission also enforces the Model Code of Conduct, the set of restraints on governments and parties during the campaign.
Composition and appointment
The Commission is a three-member body: a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, all with equal powers, deciding by majority. How its members are chosen changed twice in quick succession. In Anoop Baranwal (March 2023) the Supreme Court ruled that appointments could not rest with the executive alone and, as an interim measure, put the appointment in the hands of a panel of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice. Parliament then enacted the 2023 Appointment Act, which set a Selection Committee of the Prime Minister, a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister, and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha — replacing the Chief Justice on the panel. The composition of that committee is the live fault line in debates over the Commission’s independence.
What it is doing now
Since mid-2025 the Commission’s defining exercise has been the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls — a house-to-house re-enumeration that began in Bihar and is now being rolled out nationwide. It is the most contested electoral-administration exercise in years, and the subject of both a Supreme Court challenge and a joint opposition petition to the Chief Justice. IndiaStand maintains a dedicated topic brief on it: the Special Intensive Revision of India’s electoral rolls.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Election Commission of India established
Constituted under Article 324, a day before the Constitution came into force. The date is now observed as National Voters' Day.
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First general election machinery
The Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951 gave the Commission its statutory framework for rolls and the conduct of elections; India's first general election followed in 1951–52.
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Became a multi-member body
Two Election Commissioners were added alongside the Chief Election Commissioner; after a reversion, the three-member structure was made permanent in 1993 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1995 (T.N. Seshan).
- official
IIIDEM stood up as the Commission's training and capacity-building arm
The India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management was created as the ECI's academic and training wing at Dwarka. Its own site records 1,700+ national and international programmes, over 1 lakh participants and a training footprint across 141 countries.
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Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act struck down (Lily Thomas)
The Supreme Court held that Section 8(4), which gave convicted legislators three months to appeal before losing their seat, was unconstitutional. Disqualification on conviction carrying a minimum two-year sentence now takes effect immediately, which the Commission administers through the RPA 1951.
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VVPAT first used in an Indian election, at Noksen in Nagaland
The voter-verified paper audit trail was used for the first time in the Noksen assembly constituency by-election, opening the paper-trail layer that the Commission has since built over the whole EVM system.
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Supreme Court directs a NOTA button on every EVM (PUCL)
Deciding a PIL by the People's Union for Civil Liberties that supported the Commission's own request, the Court ordered the ECI to provide a none-of-the-above option on voting machines. The Commission treats NOTA votes as invalid votes that do not alter the result.
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First large-scale VVPAT deployment, in Mizoram
The paper trail was deployed in 10 of Mizoram's 40 assembly seats — the first use at scale rather than in a single constituency.
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NOTA and VVPAT enter a general election
NOTA appeared nationwide at its first general election and drew about 1.1% of votes, over 60 lakh ballots; VVPAT ran as a pilot in 8 of 543 parliamentary constituencies, including Lucknow, Gandhinagar, Bangalore South, Chennai Central, Jadavpur, Raipur and Patna Sahib.
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Goa becomes the first state polled entirely on VVPAT
The Goa assembly election was the first in which an entire state voted with the paper trail attached to every machine, the staging point for national rollout.
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VVPAT extended to all 543 parliamentary constituencies
The Commission ran the 2019 general election with the paper trail at every polling station across all 543 constituencies, for an electorate of 91.19 crore and a turnout of 67.4%.
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Election Laws (Amendment) Act allows Aadhaar linkage and four qualifying dates
Passed by the Lok Sabha on 20 December and the Rajya Sabha on 21 December 2021, it lets electoral registration officers seek Aadhaar for identity verification while barring deletion or refusal of enrolment for want of it, and replaces the single 1 January qualifying date with four — 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
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Supreme Court reforms appointments (Anoop Baranwal)
A Constitution Bench held that appointments must not rest with the executive alone, and directed — until Parliament legislated — a panel of the PM, the Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) and the Chief Justice of India.
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New appointments law enacted
The CEC and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 set a Selection Committee of the PM, a PM-nominated Cabinet Minister and the Leader of Opposition — replacing the Chief Justice on the panel.
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Electoral Bond Scheme struck down; disclosure routed through the Commission
A Constitution Bench held the 2018 scheme violated the voters' right to information under Article 19(1)(a), stopped bond sales immediately, and directed the State Bank of India to hand the Commission details of all bonds bought from 12 April 2019 onward for publication on its website within a week.
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Commission publishes the electoral bond data
The ECI put the SBI-supplied purchaser and recipient records on its website by 13 March 2024, the deadline the Supreme Court set — the first public disclosure of bond-route political funding.
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Largest election yet: 97.8 crore electors on the roll, 64.2 crore votes cast
The Commission ran the 2024 general election over seven phases from 19 April to 1 June, counting on 4 June: 977,965,560 registered electors, about 64.2 crore voters and 66.1% turnout, across more than a million polling stations using roughly 55 lakh EVMs.
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Bihar Special Intensive Revision ordered
The Commission ordered a house-to-house Special Intensive Revision of Bihar's electoral roll ahead of the state election — the first such intensive revision in the state since 2003.
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Bihar final roll published
Around 47 lakh electors (~6%) were removed as deceased, shifted, duplicate or otherwise ineligible, in an exercise the Commission framed around roll accuracy and detecting non-citizens.
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2026 assembly elections fought on SIR-revised rolls
Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry voted in April 2026 with results on 4 May — the first general test of rolls produced by Phase II of the revision, making the accuracy dispute retrospective as well as prospective.
- gdelt
Three UN special rapporteurs question the revision
A joint communication from the mandate-holders on minority issues, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion or belief asked the government about alleged targeting of Bengali and Muslim electors and about automated deletions, citing 52 million removals. Reported 13 July 2026; the OHCHR reference was not obtained and no government or ECI response is on the record.
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SIR Phase III announced
The Commission extended the Special Intensive Revision to a further 16 states and 3 Union Territories, after a Phase II covering 9 states and 3 UTs — taking the drive nationwide.
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Supreme Court upholds the Bihar SIR
The Court held the revision consistent with the Representation of the People Act and not disproportionate, after earlier directing the Commission to accept Aadhaar and voter-ID as identity documents and to publish booth-level lists of deletions.
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Phase III enumeration begins in four states
The Commission announced that the enumeration phase had started for Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur, confirming a staggered rather than simultaneous rollout across the 19 states and UTs.
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SIR at one year: deletions reported near 6 crore
Wire copy carried by The Hindu put names deleted across the exercise at nearly 6 crore. The Commission publishes per-phase figures rather than a running national total, so the number is a cross-phase aggregation by the wire and not an ECI statement.
- gdelt
Opposition parties petition the Chief Justice
Twenty-three opposition parties and an Independent MP wrote to the Chief Justice of India alleging partisanship in the roll revision and seeking relief; the Commission rejected the charge.
Frequently asked
- What is Election Commission of India?
- The Election Commission of India is the permanent constitutional body that runs the country's elections. Under Article 324 of the Constitution it holds the superintendence, direction and control of the electoral rolls and of elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. A three-member commission — a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners with equal powers — it also enforces the Model Code of Conduct once polls are called. It is the referee of Indian democracy, and its independence is the institution's central claim.
- When was Election Commission of India established?
- Election Commission of India was established 25 January 1950.
- What does Election Commission of India do?
- Its remit covers Superintendence, direction and control of elections (Article 324), Preparation and revision of the electoral rolls, Conduct of elections to Parliament and the State Legislatures, Conduct of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President, Enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.
- What is the latest on Election Commission of India?
- As of 2026-07-17: Opposition parties petition the Chief Justice. Twenty-three opposition parties and an Independent MP wrote to the Chief Justice of India alleging partisanship in the roll revision and seeking relief; the Commission rejected the charge.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Canonical home; carries current press releases, commission composition and the Electors/Political Parties/Election Management sections.
www.eci.gov.in/
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Citizen service portal: Forms 6/6A/7/8, electoral roll download, e-EPIC, SIR enumeration forms, application tracking.
voters.eci.gov.in/
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ECI's training, academic and resource arm (est. 2011, Dwarka); domestic and international election-management training.
iiidem.eci.gov.in/
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Explains the ENCORE index-card pipeline and the generation of constituency-level statistical reports; links to encore.eci.gov.in.
www.eci.gov.in/index-card-statistical-reporting
- ECI Publications reports
PDF archive of atlases, narrative reports, year-in-review volumes and election-specific publications.
www.eci.gov.in/eci-publication
- Press Releases Archive press
Searchable archive of 2,151+ press releases from 2004 onward, filterable by category (MCC, EVM, electoral roll, etc.) and year.
www.eci.gov.in/issue-details-page/press-releases
- Representation of the People Act, 1951 legislation
India Code entry for the principal Act governing conduct of elections, disqualifications, corrupt practices and election disputes.
www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2096
- Model Code of Conduct legislation
Full text of the MCC for political parties and candidates, plus the Commission's enforcement instructions.
www.eci.gov.in/mcc
Related briefs
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands: the political economy of a strategic frontier without a legislature 2026-07-28
- Assam: the political economy of a border, tea and hydrocarbon state 2026-07-28
- Bihar: the political economy of demographic weight without an industrial base 2026-07-28
- Chandigarh: the political economy of a shared capital under direct Union rule 2026-07-28
- Chhattisgarh: the political economy of a mineral-and-forest state, and its seams with the Union 2026-07-28
- Andhra Pradesh: the political economy of a coastal successor state 2026-07-28
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu: the political economy of a Union Territory that is a fiscal instrument 2026-07-28
- Delhi (NCT): the political economy of the capital that is governed twice 2026-07-28
- Gujarat: the political economy of an industrial, maritime and border state 2026-07-28
- Goa: the political economy of India's smallest, richest-per-head state 2026-07-28
- Haryana: the political economy of the state that wraps around Delhi 2026-07-28
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- Jharkhand: the political economy of a resource state that is not a rich state 2026-07-28
- Karnataka: the political economy of India's services-and-revenue state 2026-07-28
- Kerala: the political economy of a high-development, fiscally strained federal unit 2026-07-28
- Ladakh: the political economy of a border territory governed without a legislature 2026-07-28
- Lakshadweep: the political economy of the Union's smallest, un-legislatured territory 2026-07-28
- Maharashtra: the political economy of the Union's largest state economy 2026-07-28
- Manipur: the political economy of a transfer-funded border state 2026-07-28
- Meghalaya: the political economy of a Sixth Schedule border state 2026-07-28
- Mizoram: the political economy of a border state bound to the Union by a peace settlement 2026-07-28
- Nagaland: the political economy of a constitutional-exception border state the Union underwrites 2026-07-28
- Puducherry: the political economy of a union territory that governs like a state 2026-07-28
- Odisha: the political economy of a mineral state on a cyclone coast, and its seams with the Union 2026-07-28
- Punjab: the political economy of a grain-surplus border state that shares its own capital 2026-07-28
- Rajasthan: the political economy of a border-and-desert state 2026-07-28
- Telangana: the political economy of a services-and-pharma successor state 2026-07-28
- Uttar Pradesh: the political economy of the Republic's largest electorate 2026-07-28
- Tripura: the political economy of a Sixth Schedule border state 2026-07-28
- Uttarakhand: the political economy of a Himalayan border state with a plains engine 2026-07-28
- The Special Intensive Revision of India's electoral rolls 2026-07-05
- Tamil Nadu after 2026: a new party in power, Dravidian continuity, and the Union fault lines 2026-07-17
- West Bengal after the 2026 verdict: the revised rolls and the Centre–state seam 2026-07-17
- India's judiciary: appointments, pendency and reform 2026-07-06
- India's women's reservation law and the wait for delimitation 2026-07-06