ABSTRACT
The Election Commission of India is an independent body, entrusted with the responsibilities of conducting free and fair elections in India. The last seven decades have witnessed several changes in the structure of the ECI and the nature of its functioning. From what used to be a non-entity, teeth less institution in the early decades, the ECI has become a popular institution enjoying a great degree of trust amongst Indian citizens. There have been various election commissioners in India, but the one who changed the face of the ECI was T.N. Sheshan, who changed the mode of conducting elections. The early decades witnessed some extremely violent elections especially in states like Bihar and UP, which changed to a violence-free election in the mid-1990s under the leadership of T.N. Sheshan, the then election commissioner of India. For many decades since Sheshan became the election commissioner, ECI remained one the most trusted institution in India, but things have changed in recent years, question marks are being raised on the integrity and autonomy of the ECI. There have been various controversies regarding this in recent times, and the second chapter analyzes all these developments and controversies.
