Sukumar Sen (civil servant) - Revision history

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	\| successor = [[Kalyan Sundaram]]		\| successor = [[Kalyan Sundaram]]
	\| birth_date = {{Birth date\|1898\|01\|02\|df=yes}}		\| birth_date = {{Birth date\|1898\|01\|02\|df=yes}}
	\| death_date = {{Death date and age\|df=yes\|1963\|05\|13\|1898\|01\|02}}		\| death_date = {{Death date and age\|df=yes\|1963\|05\|13\|1898\|01\|02}}<ref name="WBLC">{{cite book \|date=1963 \|title=West Bengal Legislative Council Debates \|location= \|publisher=Government of West Bengal \|page=1–2 \|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.47791/page/n13/mode/2up?q=}}</ref>
	\| alma_mater = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]]<br />[[University of London]]		\| alma_mater = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]]<br />[[University of London]]
	\| known_for = First [[Chief Election Commissioner of India\|Election Commissioner of India]] <br> First [[Vice-Chancellor]] of [[University of Burdwan]]		\| known_for = First [[Chief Election Commissioner of India\|Election Commissioner of India]] <br> First [[Vice-Chancellor]] of [[University of Burdwan]]
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	Sen was the elder brother of [[Ashoke Kumar Sen]] (1913–1996), Union Law Minister and a noted Indian barrister. Another brother was Amiya Kumar Sen, an eminent doctor, who was the last man to see [[Rabindranath Tagore]] alive.<ref>[[Life of Rabindranath Tagore (1932–1941)]]</ref> says that Sen preserved Tagore's last poem, which he had written down at the poet's dictation, and later donated it to Indian Museum in Kolkata.		Sen was the elder brother of [[Ashoke Kumar Sen]] (1913–1996), Union Law Minister and a noted Indian barrister. Another brother was Amiya Kumar Sen, an eminent doctor, who was the last man to see [[Rabindranath Tagore]] alive.<ref>[[Life of Rabindranath Tagore (1932–1941)]]</ref> says that Sen preserved Tagore's last poem, which he had written down at the poet's dictation, and later donated it to Indian Museum in Kolkata.

	Sen was born on 2 January 1899 in a [[Bengali people\|Bengali]] Baidya-Brahmin family. He was the elder or eldest son of a civil servant Akshoy Kumar Sen.<ref name="Reed">{{cite book\|last1=Reed\|first1=Stanley\|author-link1=Stanley Reed (British politician)\|title=The Indian And Pakistan Year Book And Who's Who 1950\|date=1950\|publisher=[[The Times Group\|Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.]]\|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206/page/n795 761]\|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206\|access-date=16 March 2018}}</ref> He was educated at [[Presidency College, Kolkata]] and at the [[University of London]]. He was awarded a gold medal in Mathematics at the latter. In 1921, Sen joined the [[Indian Civil Service]], and served in various districts as an ICS officer and as a judge. In 1947, he was appointed Chief Secretary of [[West Bengal]], the senior-most rank that an ICS officer could attain in any state in British India. He was still serving in that capacity when he was sent on deputation as chief election commissioner. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of [[Padma Bhushan]].<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web \| url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf \| title=Padma Awards \| publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India \| date=2015 \| access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> He married Gouri and had two sons and daughters each with her.<ref name="Reed"/>		Sen was born on 2 January 1899 in a [[Bengali people\|Bengali]] Baidya-Brahmin family. He was the elder or eldest son of a civil servant Akshoy Kumar Sen.<ref name="Reed">{{cite book\|last1=Reed\|first1=Stanley\|author-link1=Stanley Reed (British politician)\|title=The Indian And Pakistan Year Book And Who's Who 1950\|date=1950\|publisher=[[The Times Group\|Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.]]\|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206/page/n795 761]\|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206\|access-date=16 March 2018}}</ref> He was educated at [[Presidency College, Kolkata]] and at the [[University of London]]. He was awarded a gold medal in Mathematics at the latter. In 1921, Sen joined the [[Indian Civil Service]], and served in various districts as an ICS officer and as a judge. In 1947, he was appointed Chief Secretary of [[West Bengal]], the senior-most rank that an ICS officer could attain in any state in British India. He was still serving in that capacity when he was sent on deputation as chief election commissioner in 1950.<ref name="service">{{cite book\|pages=166\|title=History of Services: Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service (as of 1 January 1957)\|publisher=Government of India Press\|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.100346/page/n171/mode/2up\|year=1957}}</ref> He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of [[Padma Bhushan]].<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web \| url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf \| title=Padma Awards \| publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India \| date=2015 \| access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> He married Gouri and had two sons and daughters each with her.<ref name="Reed"/>

	==Chief Election Commissioner==		==Chief Election Commissioner==

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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sukumar Sen
| image = Sukumar Sen.jpg
| imagesize =
| office = [[Chief Election Commissioner of India]]
| term_start = 21 March 1950
| term_end = 19 December 1958
| successor = [[Kalyan Sundaram]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|01|02|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1963|05|13|1898|01|02}}
| alma_mater = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]]<br />[[University of London]]
| known_for = First [[Chief Election Commissioner of India|Election Commissioner of India]] <br> First [[Vice-Chancellor]] of [[University of Burdwan]]
| occupation = [[Civil service|Civil servant]]
| nationality = [[India]]n
| awards = [[Padma Bhushan]]
| spouse = Gouri Sen
| children = 4
}}

'''Sukumar Sen''' (2 January 1898 – 13 May 1963) was an Indian civil servant who was the first [[Chief Election Commissioner of India]], serving from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eci.gov.in/Audio_VideoClips/previous-ces.asp |title=Previous Chief Election Commissioners |publisher=Election Commission of India |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121060346/http://www.eci.gov.in/Audio_VideoClips/previous-ces.asp |archive-date=2008-11-21 }}</ref> Under his leadership, the [[Election Commission of India|Election Commission]] successfully administered and oversaw independent India's first two general elections, in [[1952 Indian general election|1951–52]] and in [[1957 Indian general election|1957]]. He also served as first Chief Election Commissioner in [[Sudan]].

Sen was the elder brother of [[Ashoke Kumar Sen]] (1913–1996), Union Law Minister and a noted Indian barrister. Another brother was Amiya Kumar Sen, an eminent doctor, who was the last man to see [[Rabindranath Tagore]] alive.<ref>[[Life of Rabindranath Tagore (1932–1941)]]</ref> says that Sen preserved Tagore's last poem, which he had written down at the poet's dictation, and later donated it to Indian Museum in Kolkata.

Sen was born on 2 January 1899 in a [[Bengali people|Bengali]] Baidya-Brahmin family. He was the elder or eldest son of a civil servant Akshoy Kumar Sen.<ref name="Reed">{{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=Stanley|author-link1=Stanley Reed (British politician)|title=The Indian And Pakistan Year Book And Who's Who 1950|date=1950|publisher=[[The Times Group|Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206/page/n795 761]|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206|access-date=16 March 2018}}</ref> He was educated at [[Presidency College, Kolkata]] and at the [[University of London]]. He was awarded a gold medal in Mathematics at the latter. In 1921, Sen joined the [[Indian Civil Service]], and served in various districts as an ICS officer and as a judge. In 1947, he was appointed Chief Secretary of [[West Bengal]], the senior-most rank that an ICS officer could attain in any state in British India. He was still serving in that capacity when he was sent on deputation as chief election commissioner. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of [[Padma Bhushan]].<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> He married Gouri and had two sons and daughters each with her.<ref name="Reed"/>

==Chief Election Commissioner==
Historian [[Ramachandra Guha]] wrote of Sukumar Sen in ''[[The Hindu]]'' in 2002, on the 50th anniversary of [[1952 Indian general election|independent India's first general election]]:<ref>[[Ramachandra Guha]]. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20030630212436/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/01/27/stories/2002012700550100.htm The biggest gamble in history ]". ''[[The Hindu]]''. 27 January 2002. Retrieved on 4 September 2012.</ref>

<blockquote>Nehru's haste [in wanting India's first general election] was understandable, but it was viewed with some alarm by the man who had to make the election possible, a man who is an unsung hero of Indian democracy. It is a pity we know so little about Sukumar Sen. He left no memoirs and, it appears, no papers either. ...</blockquote>

<blockquote>It was perhaps the mathematician in Sen, which made him ask the prime minister to wait. No officer of State, certainly no Indian official, has ever had such a stupendous task placed in front of him. Consider, first of all, the size of the electorate: 176 million Indians aged 21 or more, of whom about 85 per cent could not read or write. Each voter had to be identified, named and registered. This registration of voters was merely the first step. For how did one design party symbols, ballot papers and ballot boxes for a mostly unlettered electorate? Then, polling stations had to be built and properly spaced out, and honest and efficient polling officers recruited. Voting has to be as transparent as possible, to allow for the fair play of the multiplicity of parties that would contest. Moreover, with the general election would take place elections to the State Assemblies. Working with Sukumar Sen in this regard were the election commissioners of the different provinces, also I.C.S. men.</blockquote>

Tinker and Walker write that Sukumar Sen was aided by two Regional Election Commissioners plus one Chief Election Officer for each state.

The ability of India's first political leaders to refrain from interfering with the machinery, as well as their decision to retain the Indian Civil Service (renamed the [[Indian Administrative Service]] with a few minor changes) gave Sen and his colleagues the freedom to adapt the machinery used by the British in the first Indian elections for the purposes of a general election. Niaz comments:<ref>Ilhan Niaz. "[http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/encounter/20071103/encounter2.htm How democracy became possible in India]". ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]''. 3 November 2007. Retrieved on 4 September 2012.</ref>

<blockquote>Though not always successful, Nehru took it upon himself to shield the higher bureaucracy against any arbitrary interference and allowed it to operate autonomously.</blockquote>

<blockquote>This approach paid handsome dividends. Sukumar Sen and his colleagues in the IAS developed and adapted the election machinery inherited from the British Empire in India in preparation for elections on the basis of universal adult franchise.</blockquote>

<blockquote>With their positions secure and their political master sufficiently enlightened to understand when to stop engaging in politics, a hierarchy of IAS officers employed at the central, provincial, and district levels in coordination with the police and village watchmen administered the largest exercises in the history of electoral democracy. The autonomy and integrity of the IAS was a crucial element in motivating opposition parties to participate in the elections and thus contributed to the credibility of the democratic exercise.</blockquote>

==Other activities==
Sen was the first Vice-Chancellor of [[Bardhaman|Burdwan University]], which started on 15 June 1960. [[Bardhaman Raj|Uday Chand Mahtab]] and the then [[Chief Minister of West Bengal]], Dr. [[Bidhan Chandra Roy]], facilitated the establishment of this university. As a mark of respect and to perpetuate his memory the road leading from G.T. Road to Golapbagh, [[Burdwan]] has been named after him as Sukumar Sen Road.Further a street in Sudan has also been named after him to mark a respect and for the conduct of election there in 1953.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[Ramachandra Guha]] (2002). *[https://web.archive.org/web/20021017184729/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2002/01/27/stories/2002012700550100.htm " The biggest gamble in history"] ''The Hindu'' 27 January 2002, magazine section. Later reprinted as [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-1554182_ITM "Democracy''s biggest gamble: India''s first free elections in 1952. (Reconsiderations)."] (partly available online) ''World Policy Journal'' 22 March 2002.
* Ramachandra Guha (2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125045556/http://grass-roots.in/cache/index.php/15537 1957]''The Hindu'' 4 March 2007, magazine section. Guha praises Sen as "a man of great intelligence and integrity."
* Justin Willis. "'A Model of its Kind': Representation and Performance in the Sudan Self-government Election of 1953", ''The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'', Volume 35, Issue 3 September 2007, pages 485 - 502
* Irene Tinker, Mil Walker. JSTOR. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3024336 "JSTOR: The First General Elections in India and Indonesia"]. ''Far Eastern Survey'', Vol. 25, No. 7 (Jul., 1956), pp. 97–110 (available via subscription only).

{{Sen family}}
{{Chief Election Commissioners of India}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1954–59}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Sukumar, ICS}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of London]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Chief Election Commissioners of India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Date of death unknown]]