A Confrontation that Reshaped the Election Commission

Gist In 1993 , the Union government promulgated an ordinance converting the Election Commission of India ECI from a single-member to a three-member body, granting equal voting rights to all commissioners. This move, challenged by the then-CEC TN Seshan , culminated in a landmark 1995 Supreme Court judgment that permanently institutionalised the multi-member framework and the principle of majority decision-making. For UPSC aspirants, understanding this transition is crucial for GS Paper II, as it explains the balance of power within constitutional bodies, the concept of primus inter pares first among equals , and how institutional design checks individual overreach. Background Under Article 324 of the Constitution, the superintendence, direction, and control of elections vest in the Election Commission. The Article specifies that the ECI shall consist of a Chief Election Commissioner CEC and "such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix". For most of independent India's history, the ECI functioned purely as a single-member body. A brief exception occurred in October 1989 , when the Rajiv Gandhi government appointed two additional…