Rajasthan State Election Commission :

The State Election Commission (SEC), Rajasthan was constituted in July 1994 under Article 243K of the Constitution of India. The SEC is a single member Commission headed by the State Election Commissioner. It has a Secretary who is also the Chief Electoral Officer for the State. The Commission discharges its Constitutional duty by way of preparing electoral rolls and holding elections for Panchayati Raj Institutions as well as for Municipal bodies.

Free and fair elections are the foundation of a healthy democracy. The State Election Commission is the Constitutional body responsible for conducting and supervising elections to the local bodies in the State.

Elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions (P.R.Is) are being held in Rajasthan since 1960. The first election was conducted in 1960 by the Panchayat Department. Thereafter, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th elections in the years 1965, 1978, 1981 and 1988 were conducted by the Election Department. The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th general elections to the PRIs were conducted by the SEC in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. The 10 th general elections have been conducted by the SEC in January and February, 2015.

Elections to Municipal bodies are being held in Rajasthan since 1960 by local self department. The 1st election was conducted by Election Department in 1963. Thereafter in some group of Municipal bodies elections were conducted by the Election Department in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986. General Elections to 45 Municipal bodies were conducted by the SEC in 1994 and to 137 Municipal bodies in 1995. Thereafter the general election to these bodies were again held in 1999-2000, 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. The last general election for 46 Municipal bodies have been conducted by the SEC in November, 2014.

Rajasthan has a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj with 33 Zila Parishads (District level), 295 Panchayat Samities (Block level) and 9900 Panchayats (Village level, comprising of a village or a group of villages). Each Zila Parishad has territorial constituencies. A Zila Parishad having population upto 4 lacs has 17 constituencies and in case the population exceeds 4 lacs, then for every one lac or part of these in excess of 4 lacs, the number of constituencies will increase by two. The 33 Zila Parishads at present have 1014 constituencies.

Similarly, Panchayat Samities also have territorial constituencies. A Panchayat Samiti having population upto one lac consists of 15 constituencies and in case the population exceeds one lac then for every 15000 or part thereof in excess of one lac the number of constituencies increases by two. The 295 Panchayat Samities are presently divided into 6236 constituencies.

Each Panchayat has been divided into wards.The 9900 Panchayats at present have 108953 wards.

In Rajasthan, urban local bodies are called Municipalities, Municipal Councils and Municipal Corporations. The Commission discharges its constitutional duty by way of preparing electoral rolls and holding elections for Municipal bodies under Article 243ZA. At present, Rajasthan has 188 Municipal bodies with 5232 territorial constituencies. Sh. Prem Singh Mehra (IAS Retd.) is the current state election commissioner.

Initiatives of State Election Commission :

Online Computerized Photo Electoral Roll :

Implementing the Web based solution for bifurcation & preparation of ward-wise draft and final Photo Electoral Rolls based on the Election Commission of India (ECI) Voter List Database as subsequently revised by the Electoral Registration Officers.

Online Election Management Programme :

Rajasthan State Election Commission opted for developing, providing and implementing the Web based solution for bifurcation & preparation of ward-wise draft and final Photo Electoral Rolls based on the Election Commission of India (ECI) Voter List Database as subsequently revised by the Electoral Registration Officers and the Election Management and Statistical reporting modules.

Preparation of web based ward-wise voter lists for each tier of Panchayati Raj Institutions i.e. 33 Zilla Parishads, 295 Panchayat Samities and 9900 Village Panchayats having 3.27 crore voters and 46 Urban Local Bodies having 63 lac voters was huge, complex and challenging to be completed and implemented in a tight time schedule.