When the Electoral Commission was rocked by internal disputes

Two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, objected to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s style of functioning. File | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The story so far: From Sukumar Sen’s tenure, during which India’s first general elections were held in 1951-52, to October 16, 1986, the Election Commission had only one member: the Chief Election Commissioner. In SS Dhanoa v Union of India (1991), the Supreme Court emphasized that under Article 342(2) of the Constitution, the President can designate and appoint as many Election Commissioners as he may from time to time determine, even if it was desirable to have a multi-member Commission. In October 1989, when the Rajiv Gandhi government was in power, the President announced the appointment of Mr. Dhano and VS Seigell as Election Commissioners to complement Chief Election Commissioner RVS Peri Sastry. The assumption was an increased workload in conducting elections after the minimum voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, but political observers then saw it as a move by the government to accommodate Mr Sastry. The multi-member arrangement was short-lived as the President revoked his 1989 announcement after the new Vice President Singh’s government took over and it was not in favor of the previous government. Mr. Dhanoa went to the court, which said it was at the discretion of the president to determine the number of election commissioners. In the current situation where two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, have objected to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s style of functioning, here’s a look at the panel’s episodic spats that have erupted in public.

On 1 October 1993, the President appointed MS Gill and GVG Krishnamurthy as Election Commissioners. Since then, the commission has been a three-member body. The President promulgated an ordinance, later enacted as an amendment to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners (Status of Service) Act, with retroactive effect from 1 October 1993. The Act expressly granted coordination powers to election commissioners and resolved a constitutional gray area. In the Dhanoa judgment, the court suggested that this should be resolved by legislation.

Published – 3 Oct 2026 09:24 IST