US Federal Election Commission Vs Indian Election commission

Federal Election Commission

Election commission of India

Origin

The Federal Election Commission was established recently in 1975, with the special mandate to regulate campaign finance issues.

Election commission of India came in to force on 25th January 1950.

Members

The Federal Election Commission is led by six Commissioners.

Indian Election commission consists of one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.

Scope

Federal Election Commission has a much narrower mandate than its Indian equivalent

By virtue of being the custodian of the electoral roll, all matters related to keeping the roll updated, fall under the ECI’s domain and ECI enjoys enormous power.

Role of Judiciary

In U.S the Judicial power can be used in Constitutional issues; voting rights; enforcement; presidential succession.

In India the role of the judiciary is limited post the election period.

Scope of Postal ballot

In the 2016 U.S. election, almost a quarter of the votes counted arose from postal ballots

In India we have confined postal ballots to only a few categories, of largely government staff, the police or armed forces.