Know every detail of the Election Commission of India and how it works

India gained Independence on August 15th 1947. It is the largest democratic country in the world. “Demo” means People and “Cratic” means rule. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of America at Gettysburg address gave the meaning of Democracy as the rule by people and  government for the people, of the people and by the people. Government is constituted by the persons who are representative of peoples. How are these people elected, which body is responsible for conducting elections, wha will be the tenure / schedule of the elections, etc. is taken care of by Election Commission of India.

Election Commission of India is a constitutional body responsible for conducting the elections under Representative of People’s Act 1951. India has got 29 states and each state has been divided into number of constituencies depending on the population, and only one person will represent that constituency. There are two types of elections that are conducted – General elections are normally conduced for every five years and By-elections are conducted only when the corresponding constituency is vacant or the representative resigns or due to death of the representative.

ECI consists of a chairman known as Chief Election Commissioner of India who will be appointed by the President of India. Currently there are two more Election Commissioners along with the Chief Commissioner.

Also Read: Election Commission of India Identity Card Number Search

Pre-election procedure done by Election Commission of India:

ECI releases notification two to three months prior to the election and takes charge as the Supreme Body for all Elections related matters under Article 324 of the Indian Constitution. These elections are only for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament and for the states which are about to complete their tenure. ECI gets power to direct the  all Administrative functions of the government and District Magistrates will be acting as Chief Reporting Officer for the corresponding districts.

EC has the power to revise all the electoral rolls (Election Commission of India Voter List) under Representative of People’s act  1950. All Citizens who attain the age of Eighteen are eligible to vote and have to get their Election Commission of India Voter Cards from the their local Election Commission office. To apply for Voter ID Card online, please refer this guide  – How Do I Register Online For A Voter ID Card?

Process of Nomination of Contestants by Election Commission

Candidates who seek to contest in the elections should meet the required norms as prescribed by the EC. If any candidate wants to participate on behalf of a political party, he / she has to get the B-form issued by the respective political parties. A candidate also has a chance to participate as an independent contestant. For new parties, the EC will give temporary symbols but the party’s name should be registered six months before the notification of the elections. Forms are to be filled up and submitted to the reporting officer within the due date and at a later time, the contestants will be given an option to withdraw their names. This is process of enrolment of contestants is called as Nomination. If there is only one nomination from a given constituency, the candidate will be declared as winner with out any election. Thereafter,  EC will scrutinise all the nominations and if it finds any mistakes in the application form, the candidate’s nomination will be rejected. The candidates are given 10 to 15 days time to campaign for votes  in their constituencies with out disturbing the public. Election Commission of India has stringent guidelines on DOs and DON’Ts for election campaigns. Candidates / political parties violating these guidelines run the risk of “barred from contesting elections”

Preparing ECI Voter Lists, basis constituency

The Election Commission issues voter slips to all the eligible voters. ECI prepares Voter Lists for each of the constituencies containing the name of the eligible voters. To check if your name is enrolled in the Voter List, read this Voter List help guide. During the voting day, campaigning is strictly prohibited. People who cast their voters are marked with an ink on their index finger.

Role of Election Commission post Elections

EC will set the date to count the votes and declares the results on that very same day. Counting officers count the votes casted in favour of each of the contesting candidate and the person who gets the highest votes in the same constituency is declared as winner. If any disputes arises the candidate can approach only the Apex court and it can direct the EC on its judgement. The party which gets majority of the seats by winning more than half of the constituencies will form the government.

If there is any vacancy it should be filled up with in six months and same procedure as mentioned above is followed.

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