Chief Election Commissioner of India

Not to be confused with Election Commissioner of India.

Chief Election Commissioner of India
Logo of The Election Commission of India
Incumbent Gyanesh Kumar<ref>"Gyanesh Kumar appointed 26th Chief Election Commissioner". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 18 February 2025.</ref> since 19 February 2025
Election Commission of India
Type	Chief Election Commissioner
Status	Head of the Election Commission of India
Nominator	Union Council of Ministers
Appointer	President of India
Term length	6 years or up to 65 years of age<br /> <small>(whichever is prior)</small>
Inaugural holder	Sukumar Sen
Deputy	Election Commissioners of India<br />Deputy Election Commissioners of India
Salary	₹250,000 (US$3,500) <small>per month</small><ref name="EC1991"/><ref name="HC"/>
Website	Election Commission of India

The chief election commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. An election commissioner is appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of a three-member selection committee headed by the prime minister and consisting of the leader of the opposition and a Union Cabinet minister.<ref>Chakrabarty, Sreeparna (10 August 2023). "Bill introduced to remove CJI from panel to select Election Commissioners". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 September 2025.</ref><ref>Chakrabarty, Sreeparna (14 February 2025). "PM Modi, LoP Rahul Gandhi to meet on Feb 17 to name CEC Rajiv Kumar's successor". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 September 2025.</ref>

The term of a CEC can be a maximum of six years or until they attain sixty-five years of age. The chief election commissioner is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service.

The chief election commissioner is placed at 9A position in the order of precedence in India along with the chairperson of Union Public Service Commission and the comptroller and auditor general of India.<ref>"Table of Precedence" (PDF). mha.gov.in. Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 7 September 2025.</ref>

Role and powers

Chief election commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national legislature, state legislatures, president and vice-president. This power of the Election Commission of India is derived from the Article 324 of the Constitution of India.<ref name="CEC">"Election, FAQ". Government of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.</ref> The chief election commissioner is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service. The Election Commission of India consists of a chief election commissioner and two election commissioners. The chief election commissioner does not have overruling powers and any decision is taken by the opinion of the majority among the three.<ref name="CEC"/>

Appointment and term of office

The appointment and term of the chief election commissioner are prescribed in the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. As per Section 7 of the act, an election commissioner is appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of a selection committee headed by the prime minister and consisting of the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and a member of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the prime minister.<ref>"SC refuses to stay new law on appointment of CEC and ECs, issues notice to Centre". The Economic Times. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.</ref> The senior most member of the election commission is appointed as the chief election commissioner by the president.<ref name="CEC"/>

The term of the CEC can be a maximum of six years from the date on which they assume their office. However, the CEC retires from office if they attain the age of sixty-five years before the expiry of the term.<ref name="CEC"/>

The CEC can be removed from the office through the process of impeachment, requiring a two-thirds majority of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to be present and voting for the same.<ref name="CEC"/>

Compensation

As per the Election Commission (Condition Of Service Of Election Commissions And Transaction Of Business) Act, 1991, the salary of the chief election commissioner is the same as salary of a judge of Supreme Court of India.<ref name="EC1991">"Election Commission (Condition Of Service Of Election Commissions And Transaction Of Business) Act, 1991". Vakil No. 1. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2012.</ref> The CEC draws a monthly salary of ₹250,000 (US$3,500) plus allowances.<ref name="EC1991"/><ref name="HC">"The High Court and Supreme Court Judges Salaries and Conditions of Service Amendment Bill 2008" (PDF). PRS India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2012.</ref>

List of chief election commissioners

The following have held the post of the chief election commissioner of India.<ref>"Former Chief Election Commissioners". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 19 May 2022.</ref>

No.	Name	Portrait	Term of office
1	Sukumar Sen	File:Sukumar Sen.jpg	21 March 1950	19 December 1958	8 years, 273 days
2	Kalyan Sundaram		20 December 1958	30 September 1967	8 years, 284 days
3	S. P. Sen Verma		1 October 1967	30 September 1972	4 years, 365 days
4	Nagendra Singh		1 October 1972	6 February 1973	128 days
5	T. Swaminathan		7 February 1973	17 June 1977	4 years, 10 days
6	S. L. Shakdhar		18 June 1977	17 June 1982	4 years, 364 days
7	R. K. Trivedi		18 June 1982	31 December 1985	3 years, 196 days
8	R. V. S. Peri Sastri		1 January 1986	25 November 1990	4 years, 328 days
9	V. S. Ramadevi		26 November 1990	11 December 1990	16 days
10	T. N. Seshan		12 December 1990	11 December 1996	6 years
11	M. S. Gill		12 December 1996	13 June 2001	4 years 69 days
12	J. M. Lyngdoh		14 June 2001	7 February 2004	2 years 269 days
13	T. S. Krishnamurthy		8 February 2004	15 May 2005	1 year 69 days
14	B. B. Tandon		16 May 2005	29 June 2006	269 days
15	N. Gopalaswami		30 June 2006	20 April 2009	2 years, 294 days
16	Navin Chawla		21 April 2009	29 July 2010	1 year 89 days
17	S. Y. Quraishi		30 July 2010	10 June 2012	1 year 316 days
18	V. S. Sampath		11 June 2012	15 January 2015	2 year 218 days
19	Harishankar Brahma		16 January 2015	18 April 2015	92 days
20	Nasim Zaidi		19 April 2015<ref>"Election Commission of India". ECI.nic.in. Retrieved 11 June 2017.</ref>	5 July 2017	2 years 77 days
21	Achal Kumar Jyoti		6 July 2017<ref name=":6">Borgohain, Sonalee, ed. (3 July 2017). "India's new Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti to take charge on 6 July". India Today. Retrieved 2 September 2017.</ref>	22 January 2018	200 days
22	Om Prakash Rawat		23 January 2018<ref>"Om Prakash Rawat to succeed AK Joti as new Chief Election Commissioner". The Indian Express. New Delhi. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.</ref>	1 December 2018	312 days
23	Sunil Arora		2 December 2018<ref>"President Kovind appoints Sunil Arora as new Chief Election Commissioner". 26 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.</ref><ref>"Sunil Arora takes over as Chief Election Commissioner, will oversee 2019 polls". 2 December 2018.</ref>	12 April 2021	2 years, 131 days
24	Sushil Chandra		13 April 2021<ref>Nath, Damini (12 April 2021). "Sushil Chandra appointed Chief Election Commissioner". The Hindu.</ref>	14 May 2022	1 year, 31 days
25	Rajiv Kumar		15 May 2022<ref>"Rajiv Kumar takes charge as 25th Chief Election Commissioner, says EC won't shy away from tough calls". The Hindu. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.</ref>	18 February 2025	2 years, 279 days
26	Gyanesh Kumar		19 February 2025<ref>"Gyanesh Kumar appointed next chief election commissioner". The Hindustan Times. 18 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2024.</ref>	Incumbent	1 year, 166 days

Reforms

The Election Commission of India was a single member body till 1989 when two election commissioners were appointed to aid the chief election commissioner.<ref name="CEC"/> While the office has always been an important one in the machinery of the Indian political process, it gained significant public attention during the tenure of T.N. Seshan, from 1990 to 1996.<ref>Narasimhan, T. E. (12 May 2012). "The more you kick me..." Business Standard. Retrieved 9 August 2016.</ref> Seshan is widely credited with enforcing the powers of the election commission strongly and undertaking a zealous effort to end corruption and manipulation in Indian elections.<ref>Das, Sanjib Kumar (1 May 2014). "The man who cleaned up India's elections". Gulf News. Retrieved 10 August 2016.</ref><ref name=india1>Srivastava, Ritesh K.(The Observer) (5 March 2012). "Empowering the EC". Zee News. Retrieved 19 December 2014.</ref>

In June 2012, former deputy prime minister and former leader of the opposition in Indian Parliament, Lal Krishna Advani, suggested that appointment of CEC (as well as the comptroller and auditor general (CAG)) should be made by a bipartisan collegium consisting of the prime minister, the chief justice, the law minister and the leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.<ref>"Members Bioprofile". Lok Sabha of India/National Informatics Centre, New Delhi. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.</ref><ref name="KA2">"KA2". The Times of India. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2012.</ref> As per Advani, the demand was to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness because the existent system was open to manipulation and partisanship.<ref name="KA2"/><ref name="KA1"/> Subsequently, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, also supported the suggestion.<ref name="KA1">"Karunanidhi backs Advani's plea for collegium". The Hindu. Chennai. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.</ref> Similar recommendations were made by former CEC's such as B B Tandon, N Gopalaswamy and S Y Quraishi.<ref name="SYQ">"SYQ". The Times of India. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2023.</ref><ref>"Ex-CECs backed collegium, Law Ministry not too keen". The Indian Express. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.</ref>