Q.The Netaji is afraid of EC. Why do leaders fear the Election Commission? Is this good for democracy?

The Election Commission is the independent body the Constitution creates specifically so that the government in power cannot control how its own elections are conducted.

Many countries have no such independent authority at all — elections are simply run by the sitting government, which creates an obvious conflict of interest. India avoids this through Article 324(1) of the Constitution, which vests "the superintendence, direction and control" of preparing electoral rolls and conducting all elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President in the Election Commission — language the Supreme Court has read broadly, giving the Commission a decisive say over nearly every aspect of the process. (Local body — Panchayat and Municipal — elections are, notably, outside its remit; those are run by separate State Election Commissioners.)

The Commission's own composition has changed over time — a single-member body until 1989, briefly multi-member around that election, then multi-member again from 1993 onward and unchanged since, once a dispute over how power was shared between the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the other Commissioners was settled by the Supreme Court. Today the CEC and the two other Election Commissioners hold equal decision-making power as a collective body; all three are appointed by the President on the Council of Ministers' advice (a process critics argue should also involve the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice, to prevent partisan appointments), and serve six years or until age 65. An ordinary Election Commissioner can be removed by the President, but a CEC has stronger protection — removable only if both Houses of Parliament recommend it by special majority — precisely so a ruling party cannot remove a CEC merely for refusing to favour it. …