Article 324 is a provision in Part XV of the Constitution of India that establishes the Election Commission of India (ECI) and vests in it the authority for the superintendence, direction, and control of elections. The provision was created by the Constituent Assembly and discussed as Draft Article 289 on June 15 and 16, 1949, to solve the problem of ensuring free, fair, and impartial elections by insulating the electoral process from executive influence. The original draft was amended to centralize the election machinery under a single, independent constitutional body.
The core mechanism is laid out in Article 324(1), which states that the power to prepare electoral rolls and conduct all elections to Parliament, the Legislature of every State, and the offices of the President and Vice-President shall be vested in the Election Commission. Article 324(2) provides that the ECI shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and such number of other Election Commissioners (ECs) as the President may fix. The appointment of the CEC and ECs is made by the President, subject to any law made by Parliament.
Article 324(5) provides a key safeguard for the independence of the CEC, stating that the CEC shall not be removed from office except in the like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court. However, other ECs can be removed on the recommendation of the CEC. The powers under Article 324 are considered plenary, meaning the ECI has wide discretionary authority to ensure free and fair elections, as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Mohinder Singh Gill & Anr. vs. The Chief Election Commissioner and Others (1977), which ruled that the ECI's functions are essentially administrative, and marginally, even judicative or legislative.
A significant change occurred with the Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Act, 1966, which nullified the system of election tribunals and transferred the jurisdiction over election petitions to the High Courts. This amendment also modified Article 324(1) to reflect the ECI's authority to supervise, direct, and oversee elections. The provision connects directly to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which governs the conduct of elections, and Article 329, which bars judicial interference in electoral matters except through an election petition. Recently, the Supreme Court in a 2023 judgment directed that the appointment of the CEC and ECs be made by the President on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India.