AN UNDOCUMENTED WONDER : The Making of the Great Indian Elections

by S.Y. Quraishi

Another notable fact was that the Election Commission came to be constituted even before India became a sovereign republic on 26 January 1950. Article 324 of the Constitution was brought into force on 26 November 1949, when the Constitution was formally adopted by the Constituent Assembly. This Article was one of the few articles which the Constituent Assembly in its wisdom thought fit to be brought into force urgently even before the date of commencement of the Constitution. This evidently shows the significance which the Constitution makers attached to conducting elections to Parliament and state legislatures. Pursuant to this constitutional provision, the Election Commission was established on 25 January 1950, that is, a day before the country became a sovereign republic on 26 January 1950.