Election Commission of India: The Institutional Framework and the Wider Implications of Its Working

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has succeeded in going beyond its constitutionally mandated role of preparing the electoral rolls and conducting free and fair elections. In its seven and a half decades of existence, the ECI has succeeded in making the electoral process increasingly more accessible, inclusive and participative despite facing challenges such as geographical variance, illiteracy, poverty, social heterogeneity and traditional hierarchical social order. What has enabled the ECI is the broad nature of its constitutional framework, which not only gives it a ‘solid underpinning’ but also allows for flexibility in being able to interpret and enforce its mandate. The institution has also been strengthened during the period by the supportive role of the judiciary, civil society groups and the ‘activism’ of certain ‘entrepreneurial’ chief election commissioners. An empowered ECI has played a proactive role in laying down its own new rules, protocols and procedures, whenever the legislative bodies have been ‘slow to give guidance’. Of late, however, grave concerns have been raised about the perceived failure of the ECI in ensuring its institutional autonomy and neutrality, and for good reasons.