The Chief Election Commissioner of India is the head of the Election Commission of India. The President of India appoints the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India who has a tenure of 6 years or up to 65 years, whichever is earlier. The CEC of India is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service.
By 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 the salary of a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Currently, the salary of CEC is ₹250,000 per month.
It is very difficult to remove the Chief Election Commissioner once appointed by the President of India, as two-thirds of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha members need to vote against CEC for disorderly conduct or improper actions.
List of all the Chief Election Commissioners of India
| Chief Election Commissioner of India | Tenure | ||
| S.No. | Name | From | To |
| 1 | Sukumar Sen | 21 March 1950 | 19 December 1958 |
| 2 | K. V. K. Sundaram | 20 December 1958 | 30 September 1967 |
| 3 | S. P. Sen Verma | 1 October 1967 | 30 September 1972 |
| 4 | Dr. Nagendra Singh | 1 October 1972 | 6 February 1973 |
| 5 | T. Swaminathan | 7 February 1973 | 17 June 1977 |
| 6 | S. L. Shakdhar | 18 June 1977 | 17 June 1982 |
| 7 | R. K. Trivedi | 18 June 1982 | 31 December 1985 |
| 8 | R. V. S. Peri Sastri | 1 January 1986 | 25 November 1990 |
| 9 | V. S. Ramadevi | 26 November 1990 | 11 December 1990 |
| 10 | T. N. Seshan | 12 December 1990 | 11 December 1996 |
| 11. | M. S. Gill | 12 December 1996 | 13 June 2001 |
| 12 | J. M. Lyngdoh | 14 June 2001 | 7 February 2004 |
| 13 | T. S. Krishnamurthy | 8 February 2004 | 15 May 2005 |
| 14 | B. B. Tandon | 16 May 2005 | 29 June 2006 |
| 15 | N. Gopalaswami | 30 June 2006 | 20 April 2009 |
| 16 | Navin Chawla | 21 April 2009 | 29 July 2010 |
| 17 | S. Y. Quraishi | 30 July 2010 | 10 June 2012 |
| 18 | V. S. Sampath | 11 June 2012 | 15 January 2015 |
| 19 | H. S. Brahma | 16 January 2015 | 18 April 2015 |
| 20 | Dr. Nasim Zaidi | 19 April 2015 | 5 July 2017 |
| 21 | Achal Kumar Jyoti | 6 July 2017 | 22 January 2018 |
| 22 | Om Prakash Rawat | 23 January 2018 | 1 December 2018 |
| 23 | Sunil Arora | 2 December 2018 | 12 April 2021 |
| 24 | Sushil Chandra | 13 April 2021 | 14 May 2022 |
| 25 | Rajiv Kumar | 15 May 2022 | Incumbent |
From the formation of the Election commission in 1950 till 1989, the Election Commission was a single-member body. Two additional commissioners were appointed by the President of India on 16 October 1989 but they had a very short tenure ending 1 January 1990.
The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1989 made the Commission a multi-member body. The concept of a 3-member Commission has been in operation since then, with the decisions being made by a majority vote.
The current Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar is is the senior-most member of the Election Commission, he has been serving in the ECI as Election Commissioner since September 1, 2020. He is the 25th Chief Election Commissioner of the country.
Retired IAS Arun Goel was appointed as the Election Commissioner in the Election by President Droupadi Murmu. It will be in effect from the date Goel assumes office.
In 1985, Goel was a Punjab cadre officer, the retired IAS joined Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey in the poll panel. Before this the newly made CEC Mr. Goel was the heavy industries secretary and has also served in the Union Culture ministry.
Though he was supposed to retire on December 31, 2022, his voluntary retirement came into effect on November 18.This year, The Former Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra also retired, passing the role and charge to Rajiv Kumar.
The poll panel has always been a two-member body due to its tedious task to deal with several crucial issues including the demands for disqualification of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The poll panel would be in charge of handling the election schedule for Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Karnataka in the coming months.
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