| 1 | Sukumar Sen | 1950–1958 | ICS officer, Mathematician | Executed India’s first two universal franchise general elections (1951–52, 1957) and the 1953 Sudan general elections. Faced immense logistical hurdles and skepticism over universal adult franchise. |
| 2 | K. V. K. Sundaram | 1958–1967 | ICS officer, Sanskrit scholar, former Union Law Secretary | Conducted the 1962 and 1967 general elections. Chaired the 5th Law Commission. Managed constitutional boundaries during early post-Nehru political friction. |
| 3 | S. P. Sen Verma | 1967–1972 | Indian Legal Service (Law Secretary) | Dealt with the 1969 Congress split (Congress (O) vs. Congress (R)) over the election symbol (pair of bullocks carrying a yoke), setting foundational precedents under the Symbols Order, 1968. |
| 4 | Dr. Nagendra Singh | 1972–1973 | ICS officer, international jurist | Had a short 4-month tenure; subsequently served as President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. |
| 5 | T. Swaminathan | 1973–1977 | ICS officer, former Cabinet Secretary | Oversaw elections during the Emergency period (1975–1977) and the historic 1977 election that voted out the Indira Gandhi government. |
| 6 | S. L. Shakdhar | 1977–1982 | Former Secretary-General of Lok Sabha | Proposed the introduction of voter identity cards (EPIC) in 1979 to curb impersonation; managed electoral rolls amidst the Assam agitation. |
| 7 | R. K. Trivedi | 1982–1985 | IAS (UP cadre) | Oversaw the violent 1983 Assam elections held amidst mass boycotts, and the 1984 general elections following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. |
| 8 | R. V. S. Peri Sastri | 1986–1990 | Indian Legal Service, former Law Secretary | Introduced early electronic voting trials. His tenure saw the October 1989 ordinance expanding the EC to a multi-member body, viewed as an attempt by the ruling government to dilute his authority. |
| 9 | V. S. Ramadevi | 1990 (16 days) | Indian Legal Service, first female CEC | Served as interim CEC for 16 days before being replaced by T. N. Seshan. Later served as Secretary-General of Rajya Sabha and Governor of Karnataka. |
| 10 | T. N. Seshan | 1990–1996 | IAS (Tamil Nadu cadre), former Cabinet Secretary | The Transformation Era: Aggressively enforced the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), introduced mandatory Voter ID cards, curbed muscle power/liquor distribution. His clashes with the P. V. Narasimha Rao government prompted the Centre to make the EC a permanent 3-member body (1993) to check his powers (T.N. Seshan v. Union of India, 1995 upheld equal status among CEC and ECs). |
| 11 | Dr. M. S. Gill | 1996–2001 | IAS (Punjab cadre) | Successfully oversaw the broad rollout of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) across nationwide constituencies. Post-retirement controversy: Joined the Indian National Congress and became a Union Cabinet Minister, sparking debates on "cooling-off" periods for constitutional heads. |
| 12 | J. M. Lyngdoh | 2001–2004 | IAS (Arunachal-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territory cadre) | Stood firm against political pressure to conduct early elections in Gujarat following the 2002 communal violence, asserting that conditions were not conducive for free and fair polls. Received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (2003). |
| 13 | T. S. Krishnamurthy | 2004–2005 | Indian Revenue Service (IRS), first IRS CEC | Supervised the 2004 General Elections, the first entirely conducted via EVMs. Advocated state funding of elections and the creation of an electoral trust. |
| 14 | B. B. Tandon | 2005–2006 | IAS (Himachal Pradesh cadre) | Oversaw crucial Assembly elections in Bihar. Faced political allegations from the RJD regarding bureaucratic transfers and electoral roll discrepancies. |
| 15 | N. Gopalaswami | 2006–2009 | IAS (Gujarat cadre), former Union Home Secretary | Constitutional Impasse (2009): Recommended to the President the removal of fellow Election Commissioner Navin Chawla under Article 324(5), alleging partisan political bias. The Union Cabinet rejected the recommendation, creating a major debate on the CEC's unilateral removal powers over ECs. |
| 16 | Navin Chawla | 2009–2010 | IAS (AGMUT cadre) | Successfully oversaw the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections despite opposition demands for his recusal over past links to Congress-aligned trusts. |
| 17 | Dr. S. Y. Quraishi | 2010–2012 | IAS (Haryana cadre) | Created the voter education division (SVEEP) and established expenditure monitoring mechanisms. Opposed executive interference in the appointment process of commissioners. |
| 18 | V. S. Sampath | 2012–2015 | IAS (Andhra Pradesh cadre) | Piloted Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines following Supreme Court directions in the Subramanian Swamy ruling (2013). Conducted the nine-phase 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. |
| 19 | H. S. Brahma | 2015 | IAS (Andhra Pradesh cadre) | Short tenure; oversaw Delhi Assembly elections. Advocated digitizing voter enrollment and pushed for online voting feasibility studies for NRIs. |
| 20 | Dr. Nasim Zaidi | 2015–2017 | IAS (UP cadre), former Civil Aviation Secretary | Committed the ECI to 100% VVPAT deployment for future elections to address growing opposition concerns regarding EVM tampering. |
| 21 | A. K. Joti | 2017–2018 | IAS (Gujarat cadre), former Chief Secretary of Gujarat | Faced opposition criticism over delaying the announcement of Gujarat Assembly poll dates alongside Himachal Pradesh. Recommended disqualifying 20 AAP MLAs in Delhi under the office-of-profit rule (later quashed by the Delhi High Court for denial of natural justice). |
| 22 | O. P. Rawat | 2018 | IAS (Madhya Pradesh cadre) | Briefly recused himself from AAP cases during Joti's tenure after AAP leaders questioned his neutrality; later rejoined and finalized state elections in Karnataka, MP, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. |
| 23 | Sunil Arora | 2018–2021 | IAS (Rajasthan cadre), former Information & Broadcasting Secretary | 2019 Lok Sabha Scrutiny: Faced strong opposition accusations of giving clean chits to ruling party leaders over MCC violations. Fellow EC Ashok Lavasa recorded dissents on these clean chits; Lavasa's family subsequently faced IT and ED scrutiny, leading to his eventual resignation to join the ADB. |
| 24 | Sushil Chandra | 2021–2022 | IRS (IT), former CBDT Chairman | Oversaw assembly elections during the COVID-19 delta wave in early 2021 (drawing sharp remarks from the Madras High Court on COVID protocol violations). |
| 25 | Rajiv Kumar | 2022–2025 | IAS (Jharkhand cadre), former Finance Secretary | Oversaw the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Faced scrutiny and Supreme Court petitions regarding turnout disclosure timelines (absolute votes vs. percentages between phases), EVM-VVPAT tally matching, and hate speech enforcement under the MCC. Handled the legislative fallout from the Anoop Baranwal (2023) SC verdict, which led to the enactment of the CEC and Other ECs Act, 2023. |
| 26 | Gyanesh Kumar | 2025–Incumbent | IAS (Kerala cadre), former Secretary (Ministry of Cooperation & Parliamentary Affairs) | Appointed under the 2023 Selection Act. In 2026, faced unprecedented controversy after The Indian Express revealed that fellow Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally placed at least 14 objections on record regarding unilateral procedures in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Form 6 changes, and voter database centralization. |
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