Election Commissioners are members of the Election Commission of India, the constitutionally empowered body which conducts free and fair elections in the country for national and state legislatures. The Election commissioners are former IAS or IRS officers.

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Until 1989, the commission was a single-member body but later on, two additional Election Commissioners were also added. Therefore the committee presently consists of a Chief election commissioner and two Election Commissioners. The decisions of the commission were taken by a majority vote. Sushil Chandra is the current 24th Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners are Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey.

Initially, in 1950, the commission only had a Chief Election Commissioner. Two additional Commissioners were appointed to the commission in the nascent period on October 16, 1989, but that they had a really short tenure, ending on January 1, 1990. The Election Commissioner Amendment Act in 1989 had made the Commission a multi-member body. The concept of a 3-member Commission has been operational since then, with the choices being made by a majority vote. The official website had been introduced on 28 February 1998.

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The Chief Election Commissioner can’t be far away from his post easily on account of any political reasons. This is necessary to preserve the independence of the committee. Chief Election Commissioner of India can be removed from his office by the President on the basis of a resolution passed to that effect by both the houses of parliament with a two-thirds majority in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity. Other Election Commissioners are often removed by the President of India on the advice of the Chief Election Commissioner. A Chief Election Commissioner has never been removed in India.

In 2009 just before the Lok Sabha Elections, Chief Election Commissioner N.Gopalaswami sent a instruction to President Pratibha Patil to take out Navin Chawla, who was soon to take office as the Chief Election Commissioner and to frequently supervise the Lok Sabha Election quoting his partition behavior in favor of one political party. The President suggested that such a recommendation isn’t binding on the President and therefore rejected it. Thereon, after Gopalswami’s retirement subsequent month Chawla became the Chief Election Commissioner and managed the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections.