Constitutional and Statutory Bodies, Elections and Citizenship

Constitutional bodies at a glance

Body	Article	Appointed by	Removal / tenure
Election Commission	324	President, on the selection committee's advice (2023 Act)	CEC like an SC judge; 6 years or 65 years
UPSC	315–323	President	President, after an SC inquiry for misbehaviour; 6 years or 65 years
State PSC	315–323	Governor	Only by the President; 6 years or 62 years
Finance Commission	280	President, every 5 years	—
CAG	148–151	President	Like an SC judge; 6 years or 65 years
Attorney General	76	President	Pleasure of the President
Advocate General (state)	165	Governor	Pleasure of the Governor
National Commission for SCs	338	President	—
National Commission for STs	338A (89th Amendment, 2003)	President	—
NCBC	338B (102nd Amendment, 2018)	President	—
GST Council	279A	—	Chaired by the Union Finance Minister
Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities	350B	President	—

Election Commission (Part XV, Articles 324–329)

• Superintendence, direction and control of elections to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President. Panchayat and municipal elections are run by the State Election Commissions.
• It was a one-member body until 1989. Since 1993 it has been a three-member body (CEC plus two ECs) deciding by majority.
• Appointment:
  • Anoop Baranwal (2023): the Court said a PM–Leader of Opposition–CJI panel should select ECs until Parliament made a law.
  • The 2023 Act set the panel as the PM, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister.
• Functions:
  • prepares electoral rolls;
  • recognises political parties and allots symbols. A national party needs 6% of valid votes in four states plus 4 Lok Sabha seats, or 2% of Lok Sabha seats from three states, or state-party recognition in four states;
  • enforces the Model Code of Conduct, which is not statutory;
  • delimitation is done by a separate Delimitation Commission.

UPSC and State PSCs (Part XIV)

• Advisory bodies for recruitment, promotions, transfers and disciplinary matters.
• The UPSC presents an annual report to the President. A State PSC presents its report to the Governor, which is laid before the state legislature.
• A State PSC chairman can, after retirement, become chairman or a member of the UPSC, or chairman of another State PSC, but cannot take any other government job.
• A Joint State PSC can be set up by Parliament on the request of the states concerned.

CAG (Articles 148–151)

• Audits the receipts and expenditure of the Centre, the states and bodies they substantially finance.
• Reports go to the President, who lays them before Parliament, or to the Governor for state accounts. The Public Accounts Committee examines them.
• He is a "friend, philosopher and guide" of the PAC. Since 1976 he no longer compiles the Centre's accounts; accounts were separated from audit.

Statutory and executive bodies

• NITI Aayog (2015): replaced the Planning Commission (1950). It was created by an executive resolution.
  • The Prime Minister is Chairperson.
  • There is a Governing Council of all Chief Ministers and UT Lieutenant Governors.
  • It works as a think tank on "cooperative and competitive federalism". It does not allocate funds.
• National Human Rights Commission: Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
  • The Chairperson is a former CJI or former Supreme Court judge (2019 amendment).
  • It is recommendatory and cannot take up a matter more than a year old.
  • State Human Rights Commissions are headed by a former Chief Justice or High Court judge.
• Central Vigilance Commission: set up in 1964 on the Santhanam Committee's advice; statutory since the CVC Act 2003. Its committee is the PM, the Home Minister and the Leader of Opposition.
• CBI: set up in 1963 by a Home Ministry resolution. It draws power from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. It needs state consent to investigate in a state (Section 6), and several states have withdrawn general consent. The Director is chosen by the PM, the Leader of Opposition and the CJI.
• Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013:
  • The Lokpal has a Chairperson plus up to 8 members.
  • It covers the PM, with exceptions for international relations, security, public order, atomic energy and space, and ministers, MPs and Group A to D officials.
  • The first Lokpal was Justice P. C. Ghose (2019).
  • States must set up Lokayuktas within a year.
• Other bodies: National Commission for Women (1992), National Commission for Minorities (1992), the Central and State Information Commissions (RTI Act 2005), the National Green Tribunal (2010), and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2007).

Citizenship (Part II and the Citizenship Act, 1955)

• Ways to acquire citizenship: by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory.
• By birth: for births from 3 December 2004, one parent must be a citizen and the other must not be an illegal migrant.
• Ways to lose citizenship: renunciation, termination (on voluntarily acquiring another citizenship) and deprivation.
• Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019:
  • Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before 31 December 2014 can get citizenship more quickly.
  • The residency requirement for them is reduced from 11 years to 5 years.
  • Rules were notified in March 2024.
  • Tribal areas under the Sixth Schedule and Inner Line Permit areas are exempt.
• Overseas Citizen of India (OCI): not dual citizenship. It gives a lifelong visa but no voting rights and no right to hold constitutional posts.

Elections and electoral reforms

• Representation of the People Act, 1950: delimitation, allocation of seats, electoral rolls.
• Representation of the People Act, 1951: conduct of elections, qualifications and disqualifications, corrupt practices, election disputes. Election petitions go to the High Court.
• Disqualification: conviction with a sentence of two years or more disqualifies a member from the date of conviction (Lily Thomas, 2013) and for 6 years after release.
• Reforms:
  • EVMs were used across India from 2004; VVPAT in all constituencies from 2019.
  • NOTA (2013).
  • Candidates must disclose assets and criminal records (ADR, 2002).
  • Expenditure limits: ₹95 lakh for a Lok Sabha seat in larger states, from 2022.
  • The electoral bonds scheme was struck down in February 2024.
  • A high-level committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind (2024) recommended simultaneous elections, "One Nation, One Election". Bills on this (the 129th Constitution Amendment Bill) were sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee in December 2024.
• Delimitation:
  • The freeze on the number of seats, based on the 1971 census, runs until after the first census after 2026 (84th Amendment, 2001).
  • The 2002 Delimitation Commission redrew boundaries on the 2001 census.

Exam tip: "Constitutional vs statutory vs executive" is a favourite trick question. Remember: Finance Commission, CAG, ECI, UPSC and NCSC/NCST/NCBC are constitutional. NHRC, CVC, Lokpal, CIC and NGT are statutory. NITI Aayog and the CBI are executive bodies.