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The Election Commission

The Indian constitution has provided for an election commission to conduct elections to elect the peoples 'representatives to the state legislatures' and the parliament.

• The Election Commission is an Independent Constitutional body. 
• It is situated at New Delhi. 
• It is also known as "Nirvachan sadan"
• The Election Commission of India consist three member with Chief Election Commissioner and two other election commissioners.  
• The are all appointed by the President of India. 
• The Election Commissioners hold office for a term of 6 years.
• The status of Election Commissioner is equivalent to that of the Supreme Court Judges

The Chief Electoral Officer

Every state has a chief electoral officer. They are appointed by the president in consultation with the state government. The chief electoral officer is authorized to supervise the election work in the state.

Functions of the Election Commission

Our country is the largest democratic country in the world with a large density of population.

1. It gives recognition to the political parties

2. It allots symbols for the parties as well as independent candidates who stand for the election.

3. It announces the dates of election  and the dates on which the votes will be counted and the declaration of the final results.

Types of Election in India

In India, people elect their representatives through direct and indirect elections.

i. Direct Election

The citizens themselves elect the representatives through votes. Members of the Lok Sabha and State legistative Assemblies are elected in this member.

ii. Indirect Election

The citizens do not directly take part in the election. The elected representatives are the voters here. The members of the Rajya Sabha, the President and Vice-President are elected in this manner

What is By-Elections?

By-elections held when an elected candidate from a constituency dies or resigns from the parliament of the state legislatures

What is Mid-term polls?

Some times it happens that the Parliament or the state legislatures do not function for the whole period of five years for various reasons.

MPs and MLAs

The elected representative of the parliament are known as MPs (Member of Parliament) and the body of the elected representatives at the state level are known as State Legislature (MLA-Member of the Legislative Assembly) Apart from this the Local Self Government also enjoys power in villages and towns.