(a) Composition : The Chief Election Commissioner is appointed by the president of
India. But once appointed, the Chief Election Commissioner is not answerable to the president, or the government. It is virtually impossible for the government to remove the CEC.
(b) Powers of the Election Commission: The Election Commission has wide-ranging
powers as mentioned below :
(i) EC takes decisions on every aspect of conduct and control of elections.
(ii) lt implements the Code of Conduct and punishes any candidates or party that violates it.
(iii) During the election period, the EC can order the government to follow some guidelines, to prevent use and misuse of governmental power to enhance its chances to win elections. or to transfer some government officials.
(iv) When on election duty-, government officers work under the control of the EC and not the government.
(c) Estimate: (i) The Election Commission has been given wide-ranging powers so that it may conduct the elections in a fair and free manner and no political party not even the ruling party may influence its working.
(ii) It is good for democracy to make Election Commission powerful so that it may work independently.
(iii) The experience of last fifty years or so has proved that the Election Commission has worked successfully. It has reprimanded the government on many occasions and ordered repoll too. The ruling party sometimes do not like the decisions of the commission but they have no choice but to obey the decisions due to independence of the commission.

(a) The day when the voters cast or ‘poll’ their vote is called the election day.
(b) Polling is done in the following way:
(i) A voter whose name has been included in the voters’ list goes to a nearby polling booth in a school or a government office.
(ii) On entering the booth, the election officials identify him/her, put a mark on his/her finger and allow him/her to cast his/her vote.
(iii) Agents of the candidates are present in the polling booth to ensure that polling takes place in a fair way.
(c) Use of EVMs : Earlier the voters used to indicate who they wanted to vote by putting a stamp against the name of the candidate on the ballot paper. Now Electronic Voting Machines (E\Ms) are used to record their votes. The machine shows the names and symbols of the candidates. A voter can cast his vote by pressing the button against the candidate of his choice.
(d) Counting of votes : (i) On a fix day, votes secured by each candidate are counted by opening EVMs in the presence of the agents of all candidates.
(ii) The candidate who secures the highest number of votes in the constituency is declared elected.
(iii) In a general election, usually counting of votes in all the constituencies takes place at the same time, on the same day. T.V. channels, radio and newspapers report this event. Within a few hours of counting, all the results are declared and it becomes clear as to which party or coalition of parties or alliance will form the government.

The main features of the procedure for nomination of candidates for elections in India are as given below:
(i) In India anyone who is a voter can contest election provided he has attained the age of 25 years. Criminals and persons with unsound mind can, however, be debarred from contesting elections.
(ii) Political parties nominate their candidates who get the party symbol and support.
(iii) Candidates who are contesting elections, have to fill a ‘nomination form’ and give some money as ‘security deposit’.
(iv) Now, as per direction of the Supreme Court, every candidate has to make a legal declaration giving following information which should be made public:
(a) Serious criminal cases pending against the candidate.
(b) Details of the assets and liabilities of the candidate and his or her family.
(c) Educational qualifications of the candidate.
This information is made public so that the voters may make their decision on the basis of the information provided by the candidates. It may also be mentioned that there is no educational qualification for candidates seeking election because that would go against the spirit of democracy as it would deprive majority of the country’s citizens the right to contest election due to illiteracy in the country. For example if a graduate degree was compulsory for candidates, more than 90 per cent of citizens wilt become ineligible to contest elections.

(a) Political competition means competition among political parties at the time of elections. At the constituency level, there is competition among several candidates. The competition makes the elections interesting and useful.
(b) Merits : It is good to have political competition on the following grounds:
(i) Political competition enables the people to reward political leaders for serving them and to punish for not doing so.
(ii) Regular electoral competition provides incentives to political parties and leaders because if they raise issues of public interest, their chances of victory increase in the next elections” But if they are not able to satisfy the voters with their work, they will loose in the next elections.
Demerits : Political competition has following disadvantages or demerits:
(i) It creates a sense of disunity and factionalism in every locality. People get divided on the basis of their loyalty towards a political part.
(ii) Different political parties and leaders start leveling allegations against each other.
(iii) Dirty tricks are used by the candidates and parties to win elections.
(iv) Sometimes the pressure to win elections does not allow sensible long-term policies to be formulated.
(v) Eminent people such as scientists, educationists do not join politics due to political competition. They do not like this unhealthy competition.
But in spite of these disadvantages or demerits, the system of free political competition works better in the long run because political leaders too want, to advance their careers. they can do so only by serving the people. Thus, the political competition forces the leaders to serve the people and win their support.