In one vitally important respect, the Indian Constitution is almost unique and has followed the example of Canada. The sine qua non for a true democracy is the holding of fair and free elections of the peoples’ representatives to the legislative bodies.

The elections, in other words, must be conducted in a completely non-partisan spirit and provision was accordingly made in the Constitution to ensure that the party in power, at no time, may be placed in position to influence the conduct of the elections to its own benefit.

Article 324 enacts that the superintendence, direction and control of all elections in India are rested in an independent body called the Election Commission.

The power of the Commission had included the power of appointing Election Tribunals for the removal of doubts and settling of disputes in connection with the elections. According to an amendment of the Representation of People Act (1966), however, the provision for constituting election tribunals has been abolished.

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Election petitions hereafter will be heard by the High Courts. It also provides that the revision of electoral rolls will be made only according to the directions of the Election Commission and not otherwise.

The Election Commission consists of the Chief Election Commissioner and as many Election Commissioners as the President may from time to time fix.

They are all appointed by the President. During the General Elections in 1951-52 two Regional Commissioners were temporarily appointed by the President to assist the Election Commission, with headquarters at Mumbai and Patna respectively.

In connection with the Second General Elections, 1957, three Deputy Election Commissioners were temporarily appointed with headquarters at Delhi. No Regional Commissioners were appointed for the second elections. It was understood that one or two of these three Deputy Election Commissioners would have to continue on a permanent basis.

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The Commission is an independent body. Its independence is secured by Article 324 (5) which provides that the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be removed from office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court and that any other Election Commissioner shall not be removed except on the recommendations of the Chief Election Commissioner.

However, it must be pointed out that the independence of the Election Commissioners is not of the same nature is that of the Judges of the Supreme Court.

A Judge of the Supreme Court once appointed holds office up to the age of 65 years while the Chief Election Commissioner can be appointed for any limited period. The Constitution also provides for the availability of adequate staff facilities for the discharge of the functions of the Election Commission.

At the State level, during the General Elections of 1951-52, the Chief Electoral Officer of a State lid not has any statutory status or functions. It was felt later that he should be given a legal status and tested with specific powers and duties.

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The term “Chief Electoral Officer” was accordingly defined in the Rules as an officer appointed by a State Government to perform the functions of the Chief Electoral Officer under the Rules. In the light of the experience gained so far.

The Election Commission has come to the conclusion that the Chief Electoral Officer of a State should be a senior officer of the State Government. The Commission is of the opinion that part-time officers seldom find time to make extensive tours of the districts and hence lose touch with the election officers at the district level which is of utmost importance.

However, the Commission feels that in case a part-time officer is appointed as the Chief Electoral Officer, a junior whole-time officer should be made available to him as his Deputy.

At the district level, the machinery varies from State to State. In some State there is a whole-time District Election Officer in every district with a nucleus of his own which is strengthened during election time.

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In some others, an officer belonging to the normal administrative set-up in the district is placed in charge of election work with a nucleus staff of his own.

In yet others, there is no definite scheme and the work is done haphazardly during the peak election time by the normal administrative machinery. It is, therefore, necessary that the machinery should be streamlined and put on a permanent and satisfactory basis.

In regard to the preparation and maintenance of the electoral rolls of a constituency, the permanent machinery consists of the Election Commission, the Chief Electoral Officer and the Electoral Registration Officer of the constituency.

There is an Electoral Registration Officer for each Assembly constituency and it is his responsibility to prepare and annually revise the electoral roll for the constituency as required by law. The law has also made provision for the appointment of one or more Assistant Electoral Registration Officers to assist the Electoral Registration officer in the performance of his functions.

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For each Parliamentary or Assembly constituency, a Returning Officer is appointed by the Election Commission. He has to be an officer of the Government. One or more persons who are also officers of the Government are appointed as Assistant Returning Officers to assist him in the performance of his functions.

The actual poll is conducted by a large number of Presiding and Polling Officers. For every polling-station, a Presiding Officer and a few polling officers are appointed in respect of each separate election, Parliament and Assembly. In case elections are held simultaneously for Parliament and the Assembly, some of these officers are appointed to take charge of both at a polling station. They are usually assisted by as many policemen and other staff as may be necessary.