- It is a permanent independent body.
- According to Article 324, the election commission shall have the authority to supervise, direct, and regulate elections for the Indian Parliament, state legislatures, the President of India, and the Vice-President of India.
- Elections to the Municipalities and Panchayats are not handled by the ECI for this a separate State Election Commission is made available for this purpose by the Indian Constitution.
- Composition of ECI
- Initially, the commission only had one Chief Election Commissioner.
- It is now made up of the Chief Election Commissioner and two other Election Commissioners.
- For the first time, two more Commissioners were appointed on October 16, 1989, however, they served only until January 1, 1990.
- Later, on October 1, 1993, two more Election Commissioners were appointed.
- Since then, the notion of a multi-member Commission with decision-making power by majority vote has been in existence.
- Appointment, Tenure, Removal Provisions
- The Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners are appointed by the President.
- They hold the office for 6 years or until they reach the age of 65, whichever is earlier.
- They have the same status, income, and benefits as Judges of the Supreme Court of India.
- The Chief Election Commissioner is removed by the Parliament by the impeachment process from office.