AN UNDOCUMENTED WONDER : The Making of the Great Indian Elections

by S.Y. Quraishi

the original proposal under Article 289 was that there should be one Commission to deal with the elections to the Central Legislature, both the Upper and Lower Houses, and that there should be a separate Election Commission for each Province and each State, to be appointed by the Governor or the Ruler of the State. Comparing that with the present Article 289, there is undoubtedly a radical change. This Article proposes to centralise the election machinery in the hands of a single Commission to be assisted by Regional Commissioners, not working under the Provincial Government, but working under the superintendence and control of the Central Election Commission. As I said, this is undoubtedly a radical change.