MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 57 of 100

This question was CANCELLED by the Commission (marks awarded to all candidates) — no option is treated as correct. The likely reason: 'State Chief Election Commissioner' does not correspond to any real constitutional post. India has only ONE Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), who heads the Election Commission of India (ECI) — a Union body under Article 324 — and is appointed by the President. States instead have a separate office, the 'State Election Commissioner' (SEC), created by Articles 243K and 243ZA, appointed by the Governor, and limited to conducting Panchayat and Municipality elections. The question's wording splices these two distinct offices together, which is almost certainly why it could not be marked cleanly and was withdrawn.

• (a)Governor — This is the correct appointing authority IF the question means the State Election Commissioner (Art. 243K/243ZA) — but 'State Chief Election Commissioner' is not that post's official name.
• (b)President of India — This is the correct appointing authority IF the question means the (national) Chief Election Commissioner of the ECI — but then the word 'State' in the question is wrong, since the CEC is a single Union-level post, not a state-level one.
• (c)Chief Justice of High Court — Plays no role in appointing either the CEC or the State Election Commissioner.
• (d)Home Minister — Plays no formal role in appointing either the CEC or the State Election Commissioner.

India has two distinct 'election commissioner' offices that this ambiguous question conflates: (1) the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), who heads the Election Commission of India under Article 324 and conducts Parliament, State Assembly, President, and Vice-President elections, appointed by the President; and (2) the State Election Commissioner (SEC), a separate one-per-state office under Articles 243K (Panchayats) and 243ZA (Municipalities), appointed by the Governor, limited to local-body elections.

Exams sometimes probe exactly this confusion — 'State Election Commissioner' versus 'Chief Election Commissioner' — because students assume all election machinery in India is run by the one ECI. When a question's phrasing straddles both, as here with the non-existent label 'State Chief Election Commissioner,' commissions often cancel it rather than pick a side.

• Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) — heads the Election Commission of India (Union body), Article 324, appointed by the President
• State Election Commissioner (SEC) — one per state, Articles 243K/243ZA, appointed by the Governor
• CEC conducts Parliament, State Legislature, President & Vice-President elections; SEC conducts only Panchayat & Municipality elections
• 'State Chief Election Commissioner' is not an official constitutional designation — likely why this MPPSC 2021 question was cancelled

• Treating 'State Election Commissioner' and 'Chief Election Commissioner' as the same office
• Assuming the Governor appoints the CEC (it is the President) or that the President appoints the SEC (it is the Governor)

MPPSC and UPSC both test the SEC/CEC distinction directly — expect the clean, unambiguous versions ('who appoints the SEC', 'which Article governs local-body elections') rather than this cancelled hybrid phrasing.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Constitution of India, the State Election Commissioner (for local body elections) is appointed by:

  • (a)President
  • (b)Chief Justice of India
  • (c)Governor
  • (d)Chief Election Commissioner of India

  Answer(c) Governor — under Article 243K (Panchayats) and Article 243ZA (Municipalities).

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution provides for a State Election Commission to conduct elections to Panchayats?

  • (a)Article 243
  • (b)Article 243K
  • (c)Article 280
  • (d)Article 324

  Answer(b) Article 243K — inserted by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.