The Election Commission of India is headed by the Chief Election Commissioner. It is an election conducting body in India. It conducts election for the centre, state legislature, President and Vice President. In Article 324 of the Indian Constitution Powers and functions of the Election Commission of India are listed. President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and can only be voted out by 2/3 of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members together.
The salary of the Chief Election Commissioner is the same as that of the Supreme Court Judge. The tenure of Chief Election Commissioner is of 6 years or 65 years of age, whichever is earlier. Usually, the Chief Election Commissioner of India is a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service.
On 2 December 2018, Shri Sunil Arora assumed the office as the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India succeeding Shri Om Prakash Rawat.
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About Shri Sunil Arora
He was born on 13 April, 1956. He is a retired 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre. He has held top positions in various government departments and ministries. He had been the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, and Secretary within the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He has worked in ministries like Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission. During 1999-2002, he also served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and CMD, Indian Airlines for five years (two years as additional charge and three years as full charge). Apart from the district postings in Dholpur, Alwar, Nagaur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, he was Secretary to the Chief Minister during 1993-1998 and CM Principal Secretary (2005-2008). He had handled Information and Public Relations (IPR), Industries and Investment Departments also.
Do you know?
– The first woman to become the Chief Election Commissioner of India was V.S Ramadevi.
– Sukumar Sen is the first Chief Election Commissioner of India.
– Governor appoints the State Election Commissioner and not the President.
– Important Articles of the Indian Constitution related to the Election Commission are: Article 324, Article 325, Article 326, Article 327, Article 328, Article 329.
– During the 10th annual meeting of FEMBoSA held in New Delhi on 24 January 2020, Mr Sunil Arora has taken over the new Chair of Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the term 2020, from outgoing Chair Mr K.M.Nurul Huda, CEC of Bangladesh.
List of Chief Election Commissioners of India
|
Name |
Tenure |
| Sukumar Sen | 21 March, 1950 – 19 December, 1958 |
| K.V.K. Sundaram | 20 December,1958 – 30 September,1967 |
| S. P. Sen Verma | 1 October, 1967 – 30 September,1972 |
| Dr Nagendra Singh | 1 October, 1972 – 6 February, 1973 |
| T. Swaminathan | 7 February, 1973 – 17 June, 1977 |
| S.L. Shakdhar | 18 June, 1977 – 17 June, 1982 |
| R.K Trivedi | 18 June, 1982 – 31 December, 1985 |
| R.V.S. Peri Sastri | 1 January,1986 – 25 November,1990 |
| Smt V.S. Rama Devi | 26 November,1990 – 11 December,1990 |
| T.N Seshan | 12 December,1990 – 11 December,1996 |
| M.S Gill | 12 December,1996 – 13 June, 2001 |
| J.M. Lyngdoh | 14 June, 2001 – 7 February, 2004 |
| T. S. Krishnamurthy | 8 February, 2004 – 15 May, 2005 |
| B. B. Tandon | 16 May, 2005 – 29 June, 2006 |
| N. Gopalaswami | 30 June, 2006 – 20 April, 2009 |
| Navin Chawla | 21 April, 2009 – 29 July, 2010 |
| S.Y. Qureshi | 30 July, 2010 – 10 June, 2012 |
| V. S. Sampath | 11 June, 2012 – 15 January, 2015 |
| H.S.Brahma | 16 January, 2015 – 18 April, 2015 |
| Dr. Nasim Zaidi | 19 April, 2015 – 5 July, 2017 |
| Shri A K Joti | 06 July, 2017 – 22 January, 2018 |
| Om Prakash Rawat | 23 January, 2018 – 1 December, 2018 |
| Sunil Arora | 2 December, 2018 – Incumbent |
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