What are the problems faced by the Election Commission as an institution at present? Also mention solution for them.

Present problems

• The Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners are appointed by the executive; the gap vis-à-vis a multi-member independent collegium weakens the look of neutrality, even when officers are personally upright.
• The Model Code of Conduct is largely moral suasion; star-campaigner abuse, official machinery, and last-week transfers are hard to punish in time.
• Criminalisation and money power: affidavits disclose cases, yet voters still face a costly, candidate-centred contest with weak inner-party democracy.
• Social media, paid news, and deep-fake rumours outrun the forty-eight-hour silence and the Commission’s takedown capacity.
• EVM–VVPAT trust is a political controversy even after the Supreme Court’s limited verification order; the institution spends credibility defending machines rather than only running the roll.
• The Commission has no separate field cadre; it borrows the State’s collectors, police, and teachers, so incumbency and local bias remain a structural risk.
• Frequent elections and a freeze on delimitation until after the next census keep the institution in a permanent campaign and an outdated seat map.

Solutions

• A statutory, multi-member appointment committee for CEC and ECs, with Leader of Opposition and a judicial member, would harden independence without amending Article 324’s core.
• Give selected MCC breaches the status of corrupt practices or specific offences with fast-track benches, and cap official advertisements in the pre-poll window.
• Enforce expenditure ceilings with digital trail, audit of parties, and a measured public funding or free airtime experiment.
• A statutory social-media cell with platform liability in the campaign window, plus more randomised VVPAT counts, would rebuild trust.
• A small permanent election secretariat in every State and a common electoral roll with local bodies would cut dependence on the sitting government.
• Simultaneous elections are a political choice; institutionally, staggered polls need a stronger, not a weaker, Commission.